R.I.P. Nokia

[dZeus]

Nokia's handset division got sold off to (surprise, surprise): Microsoft

Elop did a good job of transforming the iconic Finish manufacturer into a takeover target for Microsoft, by getting rid of all excess fat (European manufacturing capabilities, Maemo and Symbian platforms).

Lots of people saw this in the works since Elop sent his burning platforms memo (as mentioned in the Microsoft Surface thread)

[UtwigMU]

This is the end of Nokia. I don't think their corporate cultures will merge well.



Some of the guys who worked on the Meego spun of as Jolla. There might still come something good from them.

I had 6 Nokias, still using E52

[VJ]

The sad thing is that they really were top at one point... And my 10 year old Symbian phone runs circles around my 5 year old Windows Mobile phone. They were very early in the whole smartphone thing, maybe too early...?
One thing is that MS wants to focus more on devices. They could bring out tablets, etc. under the Nokia name...

[UtwigMU]

http://jollatides.com/2013/09/03/the-end-of-nokia-as-we-know-it/

We'll see how the acquisition goes: the way of Skype or the way of Danger. I don't think Microsoft is that great at making hardware, while Nokia hardware is great. They have the potential to ruin if they interfere too much with it.

[Jessterw]

I was typing out this long reply, but really, it all can be summed up thus: sad news.

[UtwigMU]

We are now at the one-year anniversary of the notorious Burning Platforms memo, with which Nokia CEO Stephen Elop single-handedly destroyed Nokia's dominant market position in smartphones and caused 13.8 Billion dollars of destruction in Nokia handset annual revenues, and wiped out 4.4 Billion dollars of annual profits from Nokia corporation. The damage in Nokia's future, the smartphone division is even worse- Elop's memo wiped out 13.8 Billion dollars of annual sales and 3.9 Billion dollars of annual profits in just one year. Before the memo, Nokia just in smartphones was more than twice as big as Apple's iPhone. Today it is the opposite, the iPhone is twice the size of all Nokia smartphones. By crashing Nokia's smartphone market share, Nokia dumbphone market share, Nokia corporate revenues, Nokia average prices, Nokia corporate profits, Nokia share price, Nokia credit ratings, and the Nokia brand value, the Burning Platforms memo is the most damaging single management communication of all time.

http://communities-dominate.blogs.com/brands/2013/09/the-full-story-of-nokia-and-microsoft-how-we-got-here-and-why-microsoft-will-fail-with-nokia-handset.html

very good read