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It would be a shame to interpret the blog in that way. I believe the author (Tomi Ahonen) gives a window into how most businesses product management and market
by edderly 14y ago
It would be a shame to interpret the blog in that way.
I believe the author (Tomi Ahonen) gives a window into how most businesses product management and marketing work for good or for bad.
Companies start with a technology base for a product and hire pretty smart people to look at the market and identify the features which will sell more units or the segments they need to target. The decisions are usually very fact driven because they have to justify in terms of a business case, and in general I think Ahonen is factually very solid.
If you looked at the figures and facts from 2008-09 I don't think you'll find much wrong and public position of Nokia (outside of the US tech community) was pretty strong.
However, the fundamental problem about relying solely on this approach is that it is a. very reliant on execution of your engineering org. b. takes no account of the ability of engineering to scale c. remains susceptible to disruptive big-bang technologies.
This is why product development organizations need a coherent personality rather than be treated as factories and prescient leadership.
- nl 14y agoI have no argument with the financial conclusions he draws - yes, Nokia has lost vast market share, profit and the value of the company has suffered as a result. What I disagree with is his mindset: it is all Elop's fault, and there is a vast Microsoft conspiracy to destroy Nokia. I don't agree with Elop's decision to go to Windows Phone. But I do agree with Elop's conclusion that the Nokia platform(s) were "burning" and that they should be abandoned. I think he should have gone with Android, but I understand the reasons why he went with WinPhone. Meanwhile, Tomi Ahonen still claims that Meego was the ultimate solution to all of Nokia's problems. Ahonen has never accepted that Meego was 2 years too late for it to be a viable player, and he's never accepted that Nokia isn't a big enough player to build a sustainable ecosystem around an operating system that was so late.