4 ms·

Nokia was a hardware company, when the phone market was a battle of hardware Nokia excelled. Then the phone market changed, it became a battle of software. Noki

Nokia was a hardware company, when the phone market was a battle of hardware Nokia excelled. Then the phone market changed, it became a battle of software. Nokia wasn't a software company, they didn't understand this new market and culturally couldn't deal with the changed market. By the time they realized this they had already lost. Now its a battle of ecosystems so unless Nokia can pull an entire ecosystem out of its hat then I don't hold out much hope for its future success.

atinoda-kestrel 11y ago
> Then the phone market changed, it became a battle of software. Nokia wasn't a software company, they didn't understand this new market and culturally couldn't deal with the changed market. By the time they realized this they had already lost. I think that's kinda revisionist history. Maemo was already developed by the time the phone market turned into the software-driven smartphone market. Nokia was late to throw Maemo on a phone, true, but they had one ready in 2011. It had hardware that won all sorts of design awards and was cutting edge in both hardware specs and design, with classic Nokia durability and engineering. It ran a wonderfully-slick, open-source friendly, polished OS. It even had a "Retina-level" display before they were common. Nokia still had a major marketshare when it was ready for release and could have used their market presence to ensure a successful launch. The problem was, Elop was trying desperately to kill it. He couldn't quite kill it outright, as Nokia had contractual obligations to release it, but he ensured that it got minimal advertising time and prevented it from being distributed in many key markets. Despite that, people loved it. It swept design awards. Some reviewers called it the "best phone Nokia ever made." People in EU countries where it wasn't released were buying it via eBay from the countries that did have it. Elop's response? No matter how successful the phone was, no matter how much people liked it, Maemo would never be used again. Naturally, the aggression towards the platform by the CEO coupled with the limited release and minimal marketing did just fine to kill it, and he was free to continue molding Nokia into a target for an MS buyout. Nokia understood the market just fine. They were just betrayed.
- sirkneeland 11y ago
  That's not entirely true. The MeeGo org was a mess. Paradoxically, telling them they were no longer the future enabled the team to stop focusing on politics and make one more amazing product. (source: I work at Nokia. Yes, still) That said I completely agree that the N9 was the best phone Nokia ever made and that Windows Phone was a catastrophic decision that should tarnish the career of every executive at Nokia who supported it and refused to change course when it was obviously failing. The demise of Nokia devices was entirely avoidable
  - _pmf_ 11y ago
    > That said I completely agree that the N9 was the best phone Nokia ever made and that Windows Phone was a catastrophic decision that should tarnish the career of every executive at Nokia who supported it and refused to change course when it was obviously failing. I think the Lumia line is the best thing that ever came out of Nokia, after all the home grown crap-OS at Nokia before. "Symbian ... no, let's do Qt ... actually MeeGo will be great; really! Aww shucks, it sucked, too." Please don't blame your downfall on Microsoft.
    - anonbanker 11y ago
      If you don't want the parent to blame Microsoft, I'll be happy to do it for them. Stephen Elop was working for Microsoft's interests long before he ever joined the organization. Nokia was the best steward of Qt, and I'm glad MS didn't get their hands on it when they had the chance.
  - atinoda-kestrel 11y ago
    >That's not entirely true. The MeeGo org was a mess. Obviously you have an inside perspective that I don't, but from the outside it just looked like y'all made an amazing phone. :) I can't say I heard much about internal issues, but I believe it given other things I've heard about Nokia internal management...
    - digi_owl 11y ago

atinoda-kestrel 11y ago

> Then the phone market changed, it became a battle of software. Nokia wasn't a software company, they didn't understand this new market and culturally couldn't deal with the changed market. By the time they realized this they had already lost. I think that's kinda revisionist history. Maemo was already developed by the time the phone market turned into the software-driven smartphone market. Nokia was late to throw Maemo on a phone, true, but they had one ready in 2011. It had hardware that won all sorts of design awards and was cutting edge in both hardware specs and design, with classic Nokia durability and engineering. It ran a wonderfully-slick, open-source friendly, polished OS. It even had a "Retina-level" display before they were common. Nokia still had a major marketshare when it was ready for release and could have used their market presence to ensure a successful launch. The problem was, Elop was trying desperately to kill it. He couldn't quite kill it outright, as Nokia had contractual obligations to release it, but he ensured that it got minimal advertising time and prevented it from being distributed in many key markets. Despite that, people loved it. It swept design awards. Some reviewers called it the "best phone Nokia ever made." People in EU countries where it wasn't released were buying it via eBay from the countries that did have it. Elop's response? No matter how successful the phone was, no matter how much people liked it, Maemo would never be used again. Naturally, the aggression towards the platform by the CEO coupled with the limited release and minimal marketing did just fine to kill it, and he was free to continue molding Nokia into a target for an MS buyout. Nokia understood the market just fine. They were just betrayed.

sirkneeland 11y ago
That's not entirely true. The MeeGo org was a mess. Paradoxically, telling them they were no longer the future enabled the team to stop focusing on politics and make one more amazing product. (source: I work at Nokia. Yes, still) That said I completely agree that the N9 was the best phone Nokia ever made and that Windows Phone was a catastrophic decision that should tarnish the career of every executive at Nokia who supported it and refused to change course when it was obviously failing. The demise of Nokia devices was entirely avoidable
- _pmf_ 11y ago
  > That said I completely agree that the N9 was the best phone Nokia ever made and that Windows Phone was a catastrophic decision that should tarnish the career of every executive at Nokia who supported it and refused to change course when it was obviously failing. I think the Lumia line is the best thing that ever came out of Nokia, after all the home grown crap-OS at Nokia before. "Symbian ... no, let's do Qt ... actually MeeGo will be great; really! Aww shucks, it sucked, too." Please don't blame your downfall on Microsoft.
  - anonbanker 11y ago
    If you don't want the parent to blame Microsoft, I'll be happy to do it for them. Stephen Elop was working for Microsoft's interests long before he ever joined the organization. Nokia was the best steward of Qt, and I'm glad MS didn't get their hands on it when they had the chance.
- atinoda-kestrel 11y ago
  >That's not entirely true. The MeeGo org was a mess. Obviously you have an inside perspective that I don't, but from the outside it just looked like y'all made an amazing phone. :) I can't say I heard much about internal issues, but I believe it given other things I've heard about Nokia internal management...
  - digi_owl 11y ago