back to article I’m not a Trojan horse: Nokia’s Elop hits back at neigh sayers

The first non-Finnish president of Nokia confirmed that he’s not a plant for Microsoft and that he intends to sell his MS shares. This is after a heckler asked CEO Stephen Elop: "Are you a Trojan Horse?" after the Canadian's keynote speech at Mobile World Congress. Elop was then questioned about his share-holdings in both …

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  1. Arctic fox
    Thumb Up

    Very interesting acount.

    The role of the carriers in Europe and the States in the background to all this was not something (I have to admit) that I had taken fully into account. They would certainly regard it as in their interests for several reasons to have at least three major players in the game in both Europe and the US. It is also indisputable that the only source of such a "third force" was going to be a link-up between MS and Nokia. Whether or not this third force works is another issue entirely - I do not claim to have a better crystal ball than the next chap.

    *My* next phone? I'm going to wait and see want Nokia release as that Meego device by the end of the year before I make any decisions.

    1. MinionZero
      Thumb Down

      CEO Stephen Elop's smoke screen

      Lets not get distracted by this States connection. If Nokia had gone with Android they would have had just as much chance of getting into the States. Also if Nokia had made a deal with Apple, they also would have got into the States. Also the States is only a small percentage of the global phone market and Nokia's global market share for years wasn't that bad. The states isn't why Nokia are loosing ground, its because they haven't been able to compete with Apple and now also increasingly Android as well. The states isn't the issue, its a smoke screen for CEO Stephen Elop selling out Nokia to Microsoft long term.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Boffin

        @MinionZero

        Perhaps if you and other commentards thought more about what is, you will understand why Elop made the decision that he did.

        To your point... Why didn't he do a deal with RIM, Apple, or HP for their OSs?

        Obvious Answer... It takes two parties to come together to make a deal and they both have to agree on a price. So if Elop didn't make a deal with them, there had to be a reason...

        Also ask yourself what does Nokia have to offer?

        And if you get that right, ask yourself which company needs what Nokia has to offer more than the others and is more willing to make a reasonable deal that Elop can afford?

        (Hint: If you think hard enough there's an answer there...)

        As to Microsoft and Nokia ever getting hitched permanently?

        Don't see it happening. Why? For one reason out of many... the EU wouldn't allow it.

        But these are just my opinions do not reflect on anything but me and what I perceive to be reality.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          FAIL

          Re: @MinionZero

          "Perhaps if you and other commentards thought more about what is, you will understand why Elop made the decision that he did."

          We'll get to your "thinking" in a moment.

          "To your point... Why didn't he do a deal with RIM, Apple, or HP for their OSs?"

          Why did he do a deal at all? Start your thinking...

          "Also ask yourself what does Nokia have to offer?"

          Well, although they haven't delivered a ready-to-go smartphone solution on a mass-market product running something that people want, the principal reasons for not having done so are (1) internal infighting (ever wonder why the Nxxx series took so long to gain phone capabilities?) and (2) lack of internal focus compounded by people wanting to have a say about the colour of the bikeshed.

          Now, given that fixing these issues could actually unleash the potential of the organisation, but also require some actual hard reorganisation work, might one have expected a competent leader to tackle that job? I guess not, if the "competent" leader has a bunch of shares in the company he's partnering with (whose value will rise on a deal, not plummet), and certainly not given his record in masterminding takeovers of at least one of his previous operations.

          "But these are just my opinions do not reflect on anything but me and what I perceive to be reality."

          Yeah, you sound like those people who look at some dysfunctional public body and immediately demand a privatisation because then no further thought is required. It's "problem solved" until everyone is being shafted by the newly created monopoly.

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Boffin

            @AC Re:Re: @MinionZero → #

            You missed a couple key points.

            1) What does Nokia have to offer Microsoft outside of a phone platform? ;-)

            (Answer that correctly and you start to see the bigger picture.)

            2) With no Meego, and Symbian not up to snuff to compete, what do you do?

            Yes, I don't think anyone disagrees about the dysfunctional nature of Nokia's prior management which is definitely being shaken up right now. But what's your best option of getting a viable handset out in the next 6-12 months?

            If you look at your options, they are very limited.

            If you look at your cash pool, that sucking sound was your company's net worth dropping down to roughly 25% of what it was 4 years ago.

            The point is that give the guy some slack. I would love to have seen a meego phone. Or someone at Nokia who understood UX. But until they get things fixed, you have to start somewhere...

            Before you blame Elop, look at what he had to work with...

        2. MinionZero
          WTF?

          @Anonymous Coward

          @AC: "Perhaps if you and other commentards thought more about what is"

          Oh, so you have thought more, is that it. We are just derogatory "commentards" who don't think. WTF! ... Do you just enjoy being condescending, is that it?

          Plus why are you trying to defend Elop?

          Elop could have had Android for free, but no, he would sooner buy from Microsoft. Elop already had Symbian, but his company failed to exploit its potential, he would sooner use Microsoft. Nokia in general for years have failed to exploit their lead in smart phones. They have changed their bloody UI more times than I could count in the past decade, instead of focusing on creating a stable totally open platform that others can build on. (Plus when others can build on an open platform, (and use the OS for free), they can then all earn money from the platform (the business model Linux has used for years), so then other companies are more than happy to help build up that platform, without having to seek permission from the platform holder. Android have got this right but Nokia could have done it years ago. But oh no, with Nokia it was closed for so long. But Nokia does still (currently) have some brand loyalty from the large numbers of non-smart phones users they have.

          @"EU wouldn't allow it"

          Think ahead 2 or 3 years. At that point, the EU would have little to say about a greatly reduced and rapidly shrinking Nokia being bought out by Microsoft. The EU will allow it.

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Boffin

            @MinionZero...

            I wouldn't be so condescending if you and other commentards actually thought about the problem before you start to bash Elop.

            Clearly there's more to his decision that just getting the opportunity to work with some of his ex-coworkers.

            Android is a non starter. We covered that.

            So who's left? And no, if you're Elop, you want the shortest path to market, so who do you talk to?

            Who's going to want to play with you?

            The point is that the field is limited.

        3. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Apple?

          Was that ever on the cards?

          I didn't think that Apple had any interest whatsoever in any hardware that didn't say, "Apple" on the front.

          "As to Microsoft and Nokia ever getting hitched permanently?"

          And what else is it going to fall back on? How likely you think Dell, HP/Compaq and any other company that is selling, essentially *Microsoft* machines, would be to make a change? Would their market let them? It has to be permanent, there is no other way. Till death us do part --- which is also possible.

        4. gnufreex

          RE:"the EU wouldn't allow it."

          When Nokia starts bleeding money left and right, EU will have no choice. Either let Nokia completely go under or bless Microsoft takeover. Blamer thought of that. That is why he first plants trojan horse to ruin Nokia, and then goes for takeover.

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Whoa!

            Nokia ruined themselves.

            Even Balmer can't get the credit for that.

            1. Anonymous Coward
              Boffin

              Right...

              So then you have to ask yourself what do you do to stop the hemorrhaging?

              I would have hoped that they got Meego working, but if its not ready for prime time...

              You go with Microsoft.

              Meego can be re-introduced at a later date, just for now... you get something viable in place, make certain staff redundant, and you build the company back up.

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Unhappy

        There is no doubt as to why

        Nokia have lost (not loosing, lost) ground. It is common knowledge. Rubbish management; creating a rubbish company structure with competing, instead of co-operating, segments, an operating system that (and I have one on my desk right now) is actually not very good.

        WAIT... Am I talking about Nokia? or Microsoft?

        Oh dear, maybe they are made for each other.

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Interesting idea

    "Perhaps it is not Elop who is the Trojan horse but Windows Mobile, allowing Nokia to break into the US."

    Can't see it really helping though. MS release their OS on multiple devices already. Being "just another device" is not going to help Nokia much.

  3. MinionZero
    Unhappy

    Nokia's Borging by Microsoft

    @"he would sell the rest of his Microsoft holding and buy into Nokia as a statement of faith."

    Bullshit ... he will sell his Microsoft shares (when the time is right) and then buy Nokia shares (when the Nokia shares have stopped falling) waiting for the right time to sell the dead husk of Nokia to Microsoft, a few years from now.

    After all, he would be the one who could start board discussions of a sale of Nokia, but not yet. For now he just needs to get people prepared for the day by getting Nokia staff working with Microsoft day by day. Give it a year or two.

    @”making an MS takeover of Nokia less likely ”

    Bullshit … He is in effect transforming Nokia into a subsidiary of Microsoft! … that will do is game plan for now, then in a year or two, once people are more familiar with the idea of Nokia working with Microsoft … then it'll be time to sell it. (But then he will claim changing markets etc.. are to blame for the sale of Nokia).

    @“Much of it coming in cost savings by a significant scaling down of the Nokia software side”

    Which instantly benefits Microsoft, as one less competitor to have to worry about.

    Nokia is already in a weakened state, the new boss of Nokia is exploiting that weakness to force the company in a new direction which he benefits from. Its very easy to see who really benefits long term from this deal and it sadly isn't Nokia.

    1. CD001

      Maybe

      Maybe this post should be archived then we can see how good your predictive powers are in a couple of years - I've a gut feeling that you might be bang on the money :\

      1. MinionZero
        Unhappy

        @CD001

        @CD001, thank you for your comments but I have no predictive powers. Its just a case of like the old saying, "Follow the money" ... that and learning the underhanded greedy self interested behaviour of Narcissists.

        Unfortunately high up bosses in positions of power very often follow the behaviour of Narcissistic Personality Disordered people. Very often the higher up they are often, the more Narcissistic they are (because they push almost everyone else out). Which is also likely to happen more in Nokia as it moves towards being assimilated by Microsoft. Other high up people in Nokia will be given effectively a choice by Nokia's boss. Its a choice of stay on and financially benefit from the takeover, when it finally happens or leave soon, because you are not going to stop it happening.

        The same pattern repeats again and again. You can see that for example from the break up and sale of Cadbury, where more than half its directors had only been at the company a few years, as they moved in and then first broke off and sold Schweppes drinks from Cadbury. Then they moved Cadbury into a position where it could also be taken over. The directors then walked off with huge bonuses from the sale of the company, then move onto yet more companies to do the same to them.

        Directors are like parasites taking over a host, killing it, then moving onto another host. They are totally self interested. The Narcissistic bosses profit hugely from selling off an old company with huge asset value and then don't frankly give a fuck about all the loyal staff who in the case of Cadbury have now just lost their jobs. :(

        The same will almost certainly sadly happen to Nokia. Its not a prediction, its simply a repeating pattern of behaviour, sadly found throughout history. The greedy people don't have any empathy for however many they harm, in their relentless pursuit of more money. After all, money is power over people who need money, so what the greedy really seek is more power over people. Money and power & endless greed for it. Sadly its a repeating pattern throughout history and its highlighted by the old saying, "Follow the money" :(

        RIP Nokia. Still when Nokia shares are converted into Microsoft shares, the Nokia boss can get back to holding Microsoft shares. :( ... Though how many will have to loose their jobs at Nokia just so the boss can profit, well he won't care. :(

  4. Tom 35

    I’m not a Trojan horse

    Some time ago at Microsoft headquarters...

    "If we built this large wooden badger"

  5. Hi Wreck
    FAIL

    Later and later

    It's no wonder that Nokia is burning faster than the Hindenburg when you consider that their "customer" isn't the person who actually uses the device. Elop may no be a Trojan, but he sure has the same DNA as his previous employer.

    1. Daniel 1

      Not only, but also...

      The fact that key business decisions are now being made on the basis of their disruptive effect on the market, and not on their technical merit.

      This isn't business: this is poker.

  6. GregC

    "If it is a hit like the N900"...

    Was the N900 a hit? Don't get me wrong, I've got one and I think it's great, but I have seen precisely 3 others in peoples hands in the year and a bit it's been out...

    Interested to see the new MeeGo device, but I won't be holding my breath.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: "If it is a hit like the N900"...

      It was probably a hit amongst the hundreds of people who knew it existed and were able to buy one - a "beware of the leopard" situation presumably created by a bunch of people hoping to stop "this new-fangled Linux upstart thing" from being popular at the expense of "our tried and trusted intellectual property" and the usual clueless drones in upper management not wanting to "rock the operators' boat" by offering something the operators say they don't want, mostly because the operators all a bunch of unimaginative consumer-milking idiots who also want other people to make anything other than profit margin decisions for them.

      And on the subject of "consumers", a huge problem at Nokia is regarding individuals as "consumers" not "customers". Anyone pointing at the man in the street and uttering "consumer" doesn't get it at all.

    2. Steve Evans

      Re: "If it is a hit like the N900"

      Well that's 1 more than I've seen N97 (yes, I bought one... D'oh), and 4 more (including your N900) than WinMo...

      And a hell of a lot less than I've seen the HTC Desire family... Hmmmm

  7. foo_bar_baz
    FAIL

    Nice

    "But the cull of senior management isn’t going to continue. It might not have been as great as was predicted but don’t expect there to be further tranches of executive exits."

    The people who made the bad decisions (or too many decisions) get to stay. Once the transition is over I give it a few months until the next company reorganization and change in strategy ... "We'll go for Android after all."

  8. AskJarv
    FAIL

    Same old story

    Some other news sites have picked up this beauty of a story as well about Elop's past- it;s getting shadier by the minute!

    http://www.siliconbeat.com/2008/01/11/microsoft-beware-stephen-elop-is-a-flight-risk/

  9. Wang N Staines

    hahahaaa

    Some woman once said, to the effect of, he would say that wouldn't he... Trojan horse, moi?

    He didn't his MS shares because he was waiting for the price to rise after the announcement.

  10. calagan
    FAIL

    European vs American market: wrong debate

    Where did Elop get the idea that American would love WP7 any more than Europeans?

    Having lived for years on both ends of the Atlantic, I have to say that taste for good phone is not different on either end. The main difference are the fact that CDMA still survives in the US and also that the big telcos (ATT, Verizon...) really get to decide which phone do or doesn't reach the american customers.

    In any case WP7 is clearly "too little too late" and this will drive Nokia to its knees.

  11. D. M

    Everyone knows they built this giant wooden rabbit.

    There was never a horse.

  12. Avatar of They
    WTF?

    Best line ever.

    "If it is a hit like the N900 there may be more?"

    WTF?

    The n900 was lucky to break 100,000 models sold and most of them were sent back because it was broken or geeky and not working, the forums are riddled with hardware and software bugs and after 13 months it still doens't do any of the basics without massive community support. OVI is still in beta, there are no new apps from Nokia of worth and those there are horrendously expensive compared to Android and iphone markets. (£1.50 each for the 4 angry bird packs) they say 10 people are at nokia developing meego and there was 3 doing Meamo. And they still think the N900 was a hit?

    A bunch of 'fanbois' on forums do not make a successful phone.

    Nokia seriously are deluded. Judging by the forums on maemo this morning, I don't think Meego is going to be taken up any time soon by non geeks. The Meego releases so far have an issue about not recharging batteries and that is after a year of development.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Boffin

      Re: Best line ever.

      "The Meego releases so far have an issue about not recharging batteries and that is after a year of development."

      Yes, but that's not an indictment of mobile Linux (as Android has shown), but of Nokia's internal games where they ship hardware they can't or won't support, either because they claim that the manufacturer of some chip or other won't share the info (despite them buying millions of the things - I guess being a big customer isn't worth much these days) or because someone in some division has probably been told "not to spend any time on supporting those people". So you end up with an incomplete software distribution and a bunch of unhappy customers.

      You'd think that a big company could rub the divisions together to get benefits that, say, some independent group wanting to make a device and doing the rounds of manufacturers to try and get them to run off a few thousand units would be unable to enjoy, but nope: the divisions at Nokia would appear to regard other divisions as burdens or even competitors. And that's when you know a big company is punching below its weight.

    2. carl 10

      N900

      Avatar of They makes some very valid points.

      I think the line should have read "If it is a shit like the N900".....

      I had one and found it buggy, unfinished and like they'd rushed to get it out to the market regardless of what state it was in (in fact, that's probably about the size of it). Soon after I got myself an HTC Desire Z which does basically everything the N900 did (bar the N900's FM transmitter) and does it all in a far more polished and bug-free way and now wonder why I held out for Nokia to do something good for so long!

      In short, the N900 seemed like a reference design rather than a flagship device as Nokia seemed to frame it on its release. They couldn't even get the phone part of the device up to scratch! It wasn't good enough.

      As Avatar says - Nokia seriously are deluded.

      Nokia's problem with consumers is that it was arrogant in its treatment of them and rested on its laurels with the attitude that simply being Nokia was enough whilst the world around them moved on. Releasing handsets (N900, N97 etc) that are really buggy and incomplete at launch and expecting users to wait months for firmware updates (if they ever come at all!) is why their once respected name at the forefront of high-end mobile/smartphone development is now mud!

      Having been at this week's Mobile World Congress I can say that with the likes of HTC, Samsung and LG (to name but a few) releasing exciting new smartphones Nokia will not really be missed from the fray. Never thought I'd say that....

  13. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    will limit WP7 to Nokia

    Why would any other handset manufacturer now want Windows Phone on their hardware? They will have to pay a license fee, and compete head-to-head with Nokia who will have advantaged access to Microsoft's OS developers (I would imagine).

    Android is free, they can noodle with it to "differentiate" themselves from other handset manufacturers, and they get an "almost Apple" user experience.

    This could actually be bad for Microsoft as it may effectively limit them to one hardware manufacturer, and one which is unlikely to survive the competition with Android on low-cost hardware.

    Microsoft and Nokia in a mutual mobile-death-spiral.

    1. Steve Evans

      Re: will limit WP7 to Nokia

      Exactly my thoughts... Hopefully HTC will say "thank you MS" for actually making them a mainstream manufacturer and then go and spend all their time working on more new Android devices :-)

  14. Robert E A Harvey
    Gates Horns

    I’m not a Trojan horse

    I refer the assembled members to the reply given by Miss Mandy Rice-Davies in the trial of Stephen Ward.

  15. Robert E A Harvey

    Teaming up with Microsoft turns it into a “three-horse race”.

    Oh? is he suggesting that it wasn't already? Sounds like tacit agreement that WP7 was going nowhere.

    Its still WP7. does that mean we have a 3-horse race but rather less than 12 horses legs?

  16. Kurgan
    FAIL

    N900?

    I own an N900. It's a geeky phone that only geek people (like me) would like. And it's still buggy, and Nokia abandoned it, so bugs are here to stay, forever.

    I surely won't buy the first (and last) meego device, I have already spent 500 Euros in a phone that could have been good, but actually is not. I will not spend more on a phone that we all know is dead even before being born.

    Come on, Nokia, you failed and failed and failed again. You changed course a million times (symbian, maemo, symbian, meego, symbian, windows, maybe meego again?) Do you think I will put my faith and my money in your next failure?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Yep.

      Almost the same for me except with the N95.

      Of course the N95 wasn't a geeky phone - it was a 'do everything' device, that everyone seemed to want/like.

      Shame they never ironed-out the bugs, and made it actually useable by non-geeks.

  17. Lewis Mettler
    Stop

    who are your competitors?

    Seems that Nokia does not understand who it's competitors are.

    If you only shift the kit, then Google is not your competitor at all. Apple might be. But, not Google.

    Your alternatives are other kit shifters, not?

    If Nokia is not going to develop the code, then they certainly should also offer Android as an alternative.

    The fact they focus upon MS is proof they do not know what they are doing.

  18. Lewis Mettler
    Stop

    not a Trojan?

    The talk about there being three competitors is from Microsoft's viewpoint.

    It might be that the "customers" might like that. But, Nokia's interests are different. If Nokia only makes the handset, there are a lot more than 3 competitors to worry about. And neither Google nor Microsoft is on that list.

    Elop still thinks he works for Microsoft.

    1. gnufreex

      Exactly

      I simply can't understand how Nokia shareholders are missing this.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        how about...

        2 options as I see it:

        1) Nokia shareholders are idiots, and wouldn't notice their entire business disappearing down the drain.

        2) The shareholders know exactly what's going on and are just sat there waiting for their huge pay-offs when the inevitable happens.

        1 has been happening for the last couple of years.

        2 is most likely and doesn't negate 1.

        1. Bub
          Gates Horns

          Many Nokia shareholders aren't idiots..

          .. given the share price has dropped 20% since the Microsoft deal was announced

          http://www.google.com/finance?chdnp=1&chdd=1&chds=1&chdv=1&chvs=maximized&chdeh=0&chfdeh=0&chdet=1297761299645&chddm=1955&chls=IntervalBasedLine&q=NYSE:NOK&ntsp=0

  19. David Kelly 2

    Is "neigh" a pun?

    Is "neigh" a pun or a Britishism? Are the sayers in question actually horses? Perhaps it should be spelled, "nay"?

    1. Rob - Denmark

      The title is required, and must contain letters and/or digits.

      Trojan Horse?

  20. Dimitri
    FAIL

    Giving up, is so very hard to do...

    This "strategy" (if you can call it such) clearly shows that they don't actually understand their business. In the press conference Elop said they decided against Android, because it would be tough to differentiate themselves on it and "it felt like giving up". Pathetic.

    Its clear they don't understand they are a phone manufacturer and are in the business of shifting hardware. The software enables ths hardware sale but it's not their core - as pointed out above they have many competitors and none of them are MS or Google.

    As to why they think WP7 is a better platform to differentiate on than Android I have no clue. Perhaps because as a less mature platform, it will need more work to customize? Because its' closed-source nature will ensure a slower sharing process between MS and Nokia (despite any agreements)? Never mind...

    The phrase that "going with Android, felt like giving up" says it all. This was an emotional decision. Nokia lost and now needs a major brand relationship to put a sheen over this failure so they don't have to give up a 100%. Never mind that this would be the smart strategy that would allow them to focus on their hardware offering, where they actually make money. At least they sold out to a wealthy (if fading) suitor...

  21. JohnG

    Nokia, Samsung and LG

    "Building phones that Americans like has always been a struggle for European manufacturers."

    Building phones that enough people like is a problem for US manufacturers. Nokia has about a third of the global cellular phone market, followed by Samsung and LG. None of the rest (including all the US manufacturers) manage to achieve much more than a tenth of Nokia's market share.

  22. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Trojan Aeroplane. If you don't believe me you can disembark now.

    Elop was out of ideas. So what did he do? He asked his customers what they want. Shock horror, he did just that.

    Now this isn't a bad thing per se. But between what people want and what they need might be oceans of distance. The success of apple isn't in giving people what they want, it's in giving people something that they perhaps didn't know they wanted, but find so appealing they won't want to do without afterward. While useful to ask, proceeding to plainly give people what they want isn't really the cutting edge innovation that you need to succeed in a cutthroat market like smartphones.

    And it turns out the customers --that's the telcos and that's very much not you-- are currently being consumed by fear, uncertainty, and doubt about apple and their walled garden and google with their "we don't do evil, honest" double agenda.

    So they'd like something that makes them feel safe. So nokia is now betting the company on being a safety blanket for large unimaginative companies, and for that they're willing to go to bed with and become exactly that which they've been avoiding for fifteen years.

    They're doing it by ditching quite a chunk of investments in several OSes and replacing it with what by sales so far still looks like vista for your phone. It's bland, it's boring, it's therefore safe.

    And yes, maybe it's a safety blanket for them too. It's quite damning if that's the case, because it's a clear statement of mistrust in their own ability. Always nice to have your own CEO rub that in, in public.

    Not only does it sound exceedingly painful, but moreover it doesn't strike me as a cunning strategy, a shining bright vision, or even a solid plan to get out of dodge. It's more of a close your eyes and think of something else type of thing. But will it help anybody but their adversary in the long run?

    If not, we can safely call Elop the new Belluzzo, even if he'll claim high and low he's not. It's his actions that'll speak for him, not his keynotes. In the meantime we can but guess what our redmondian canadian is thinking of.

    I don't know if I could've done better. Certainly nobody hired me for this. Maybe there simply aren't any viable options left for a multibillion company that still, for the time being, is selling millions of handsets. Just about every analyst agrees that _something_ must be done or the company'll fizzle. But I don't see how this something will prevent failure. As already pointed out, it's more of a "dibs on the patents" type of deal.

    Which leaves me with this one question: This is exactly what we feared when we heard the new ceo would be ex-redmond. He's not even being subtle about it, not even a little. Is the nokia board that stupid, that easy to lull? If not, they must've done it on purpose and then, what purpose must that be?

  23. Anonymous Coward
    Pint

    My Cut - Random comments

    Elop (having now read some of his history) looks like a worst of breed - a self interested bean counter and hatchet man. He has demonstrated as much vision in any of his previous posts as a mole rat, and is so openly "I am here for the money" that it beggars belief. He is the "worst of breed" in North American Management. I am appalled and amazed that Nokia felt recourse to hire this worm. I suspect Canadians might be cringing as much as Finns are in shock.

    NOK, tanked 5% today (MSFT steady). I guess the market recognised the non-existence of vision in this announcement. Or maybe it was just a blip. Perhaps if we are lucky, some investigative jounalists will find something dirtier - we are after all dealing with a Microsoft alumnus whose claim to fame is that he was a hatchett for hire with a track record BEFORE he went to microsoft to hone his "gangster" skills. Follow the money!

    The issues with NOKIA are fixable, they are still profitable and have a massive and effective global manufacturing, localization and distribution organisation. They dwarf their competitors. While their profitability was down and indeed their market share in the high end declined, they had significantly increasing sales in a massively increasing market segment. They are the global number one player in most metrics. What they do not have is (a) massive "Apple-like" markups and (b) a significant presence in the parochial US market. The US market has always been somewhat different from the rest of the world, for lots of reasons. NOKIA would like a bigger presence there because of the high purchasing power of customers and consumers. I do not think most shareholders considered becoming a Microsoft bitch was the appropriate strategy. I could be wrong.

    NOK is a great engineering/manufacturing company. So were HP and DEC/ComapQ. Elop is reading from the Palmer/Capellas/Fiorina play book. Gut the R&D, fire everybody and burn every strategic bridge and "bet the farm" on MSFT. HP is a tawdry box and ink consumer brand now - and untrusted by big and small players alike in the enterprise space. NOK is apparently being taken the same route. It is a vsionless short term strategy designed to make some executives (Elop and his cohorts at MSFT) even richer than they already are. The like examples have been noted in other posts.

    Beer: Because it's a good friend

  24. JimC
    Gates Horns

    Of course he's not a Trojan Horse...

    Surely everyone knows that if you hire a Microsofter you get an Microsoft strategy. So the real decision to dump the other platforms and go the Microsoft route was taken when Nokia chose to hire the guy in the first place. That he came up with a lets go MS strategy ought to suprise no-one.

  25. JaitcH
    WTF?

    Elop focussed on nuts and bolts not consumer viewpoint

    The thing that differentiates cars from one another is styling and features. This could be equated to the 'interface'.

    Elop seems to be claiming that end users (forget the semantics about consumers and clients) concern themselves with what's under the hood.

    Apple has iOS and features that it thinks appeals to iPhans. The average iPhan doesn't really give a damn what makes something happen - as long as it happens.

    The same with Android. People don't buy a phone just because Android is under the hood - they buy them because of the same reasons as iPhans.

    The fact that Elop reckons he can give end users that fuzzy feeling with a Nokia is fine for the average end user - The Register, and readers, don't stop there they ARE interested in what's under the engine and the implications of making a cell phone with specific OS and hardware.

    If Nokia can actually make a silk Nokia purse out of a Microsoft's pigs ear, good luck to them. The problem is they are tossing a lot of investment and talent out of the window in the process, and this is what riling the techies up against the seemingly thoughtless path Nokia is following.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      mmm

      Bloody hell. I actually agreed with everything you had to say there, including the iPhans name-calling.

      Maybe Nokia will succeed with this, ie the general public will like the idea of a Nokia phone running Windows. It 'sounds' like a nice idea: good hardware - running that thing I have on my dekstop. I hope so, for Nokia's sake.

      Don't think so though :/

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