Don't blame CEO Stephen Elop for Nokia's (NOK) woes, says Juuso Myllyrinne. The problem lies in...

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sanbuds Comments (15)
 
yep.. blame yourself for investing in NOK
16 Apr 2012, 02:29 PM Reply Like

Whitehawk Comments (2758)
 
SJ/Apple and its "ancient engineer-dominated culture" obsessed over hardware too - the difference is that it/they took a systems view and connected that to the consumer experience. Nokia could have done the same, but it tied itself to MSFT and other failed SW platforms - big mistake.
16 Apr 2012, 02:42 PM Reply Like

1mp1r3t4 Comments (328)
 
Elop's the best CEO Nokia could get after the company's total disregard of market trends. He knows where the company needs to be and he's aligned with the right players to achieve success. As all CEOs, he had to throw out the kitchen sink to relieve the company of its past failures, avoiding blame for the company's past shortcomings and taking steps to ensure the understanding of his business plan.

The Lumia line will return Nokia to its glory and make it a contender once more. It's already a success. As it moves forward, reaching greater numbers across the globe with more accessible entry-level products, the revenues will underscore Elop's success.

There will always be detractors but leaders lead any way. What will the nay-sayers say in a year or two, "who woulda thunk?"
16 Apr 2012, 02:46 PM Reply Like

Losing Paper While Gaining ... Comments (490)
 
Nokia made some of the best phones in the business as far as hardware was concerned, topped by the nokia n900 which was way ahead of the iphone specs when it was announced and had an operating system (maemo) that I still prefer over android on the samsung galaxy nexus I just replaced it with this weekend.

Elop sold out Nokia to Microsoft, his former employers. These deals never work out well for Microsoft's "partners". They've ended development on Meego, which was the successor to Maemo, and that will leave Nokia with little to fall back on when the Microsoft deal turns sour, or if/when Elop gets booted out.
16 Apr 2012, 02:48 PM Reply Like

Siddharth Dalal Comments (207)
 
I would venture to guess that if the "deal goes sour", i.e. Nokia tanks, MSFT will probably acquire it. After all Google acquired Motorola and MS needs to compete. And like with the XBox, MSFT can eat the loss for a prolonged period until it emerges successful. Other than Nokia and RIMM, all other manufacturers are committed to Android. Microsoft needs Nokia to succeed for the future of Windows on mobile devices.
16 Apr 2012, 03:12 PM Reply Like

Losing Paper While Gaining ... Comments (490)
 
That's all plausible. Nokia also has a stash of patents that I'm sure Microsoft would like to have in their pocket and Microsoft are already bankrolling Nokia to some extent.

Good for Microsoft, bad for Nokia stockholders.

Like I said, these deals never work out well for Microsoft's partners. :/
16 Apr 2012, 03:22 PM Reply Like

DeepValueLover Comments (5067)
 
Microsoft does a JV with Nokia and RIMM essentially buying the two companies.

Microsoft trims the fat by laying off anyone not essential to burying the Blackberry OS and the Symbian OS.

The new core team of engineers and designers works hand in had to build a Windows 8 platform that will crush iOS and Android. Step one: Make it open source.

Full integration with XBox Live, Outlook, Bing, Zune, MSN and Office in the cloud and across all devices.

Initiate a "Windows 95" level global launch of Nokia Fluid then BAM!!! watch as Apple finally gets a little bit nervous.

Nokia can be saved...as long as it is merged with RIMM under the Microsoft umbrella.
16 Apr 2012, 03:25 PM Reply Like

Losing Paper While Gaining ... Comments (490)
 
I don't see it as at all likely that they'll open source the OS. It's their core means of control over the entire platform.
16 Apr 2012, 03:30 PM Reply Like

DeepValueLover Comments (5067)
 
But as long as global developers are left out of manipulating the source code the OS will struggle to gain traction.
16 Apr 2012, 03:41 PM Reply Like

Losing Paper While Gaining ... Comments (490)
 
I agree on that and would love to see it happen, but this would be contrary to how Microsoft makes money in every other market it's in. It wants to make money on licensing its OS, unless you see them getting into the hardware business like apple?

Add to that the fact that if they open source it then the code could be used by others, meaning any related software patents would be neutered. (I'd be happy with seeing patents die, I just don't think Microsoft execs would think the same). This would mean those who currently pay royalties to Microsoft for patents in Android installations would no longer have to do that, cutting off another Microsoft revenue stream.

All of these are reasons why I don't see windows phone being a success any time soon.
16 Apr 2012, 03:51 PM Reply Like

Mark Bruns Comments (38)
 
Use of the adjective "ancient" illustrates how emotional and biased that this critique of hardware engineers is. The effective result of Nokia's push to move to too rapidly to a software culture is the completely embarrassing software glitch that accompanied the Lumia launch. That software glitch shows that Nokia's cultural shift has been entirely mismanaged; problems of that magnitude simply do not fall through the cracks without someone seeing the problem.

It's tough to say exactly what happened without having been on the inside ... but in all likelihood, there were people [probably engineers and engineering managers with a hardware background] who were not at all happy with what they were seeing and pressed for a slower, more prudent launch. Of course, software folks live in a half-baked beta world -- they always believe that it's easy to push out another software correction so they pressed to go ahead. Elop and other members of top management chose to discredit the "ancient hardware engineers," to shoot the messenger and to forge boldly ahead with expensive launch in spite of the software issues.

Elop signed up to be the CEO -- regardless of what happens, the buck stops with Elop. Plenty of blame belongs on the sholders of Mr. Elop.
16 Apr 2012, 03:46 PM Reply Like

Origa Comments (485)
 
Nokia´s hardware is good, no doubt, but Samsung and Apple is just better. The technical arrogance people should be fired, no matter how good they are.

The Technician is a person that can be replaced, if the management got the guts to do it, because, they could suddenly turn to the competitor with a clear aim to produce a better competitor product.

The best way to turn tech arrogance is to give the technician a sale or another business course. Have the sale people talk together with tech guy´s where the tech guy, actually get to know, the day to day issue with sales/production and more important, the amount persons from each department.
16 Apr 2012, 04:10 PM Reply Like

Losing Paper While Gaining ... Comments (490)
 
Apple's hardware arrogance is no better. Phones made of glass? Telling owners that they're holding it wrong when there's obviously a hardware problem with the antennas? Battery drain issues in the most recent iPhone? Alarms that break on daylight savings?

Nokia phones until recently could take an amazing amount of abuse, though now they're coming out with occasional bugs such as data connectivity issues. May be related to lay-offs resulting in lesser products.

The hardware and software guys make the product. If you cut back on those you end up having a crap product. Sure the last few top execs were flawed, but the platform they were developing was definitely a competitor to Android. Windows Phone? Not so much. It'll only last because it's bankrolled by Microsoft.
16 Apr 2012, 05:18 PM Reply Like

mepa84 Comments (30)
 
I am curious to know if Elop did not make Nokia to focusing 100% on Windows phones and ignoring meego, symbian and feature phones, Nokia would have performed so poorly that now even is not the market leader for feature phones.
16 Apr 2012, 04:53 PM Reply Like

Siddharth Dalal Comments (207)
 
Well all that happened is that Nokia went 3 years into the future, which is when things would have turned so bad (IMHO) if they didn't do something drastic. Then it would have been too late to salvage Nokia. This might just be early enough in the game that it might work. I recently opened a long position in NOK. I feel it is more likely that my Nokia will double in a year than my Apple. It is risky. I might go to zero but Nokia is a valuable company for patents alone. They are worth atleast 2$/share in IP (my opinion).
17 Apr 2012, 08:42 AM Reply Like

1mp1r3t4 Comments (328)
 
Did you read the release today where ten different analysts are issuing targets below $3 and for the most part rating Nokia an underperforming stock or an outright Sell in a couple cases? As Buffett likes to trumpet, buy when everyone sells and sell when everyone buys. It's the mark of an investor with brass testicles.
18 Apr 2012, 11:28 AM Reply Like

Charles Santerre Comments (1024)
 
...analysts are always right! Isn`t that why everyone is rich following their advice? (sarcasm in case it wasn`t obvious enough).
19 Apr 2012, 09:52 AM Reply Like