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Nokia CEO: Nokia is "standing on a burning platform"

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Re: Nokia CEO: Nokia is "standing on a burning platform"

#121

Post by msh »

thomasz wrote: post #100
Tuna-Fish wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Unlocked handsets don't count: almost no one is paying that much for a phone. Most mobile phones in the world are bought unlocked. Carrier-locked phones holding most of the market is an US/UK quirk, and in many European countries, carrier-locked phones like used in the US would actually be illegal.

Locked Phones are the norm in Germany too. If this holds true for France too, the vast majority of mobile phones in Europe is being sold locked. I don't know the details about the "illegal" claim, but normally those things are governed by EU laws, making it somewhat hard to believe that contracts common in the UK and Germany would be considered illegal in the Netherlands or Portugal.

I dont know about UK/germany, but in Scandinavia the carrier must unlock the phone for free when the contract is up. The max length of a contract in denmark i 6 months, longer in norway/sweden.

Re: Nokia CEO: Nokia is "standing on a burning platform"

#122

Post by grego »

nl wrote: post #75
Geee wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The prior development tools for native Symbian have been horrid, combined with difficult signing process etc. However, the transition to Qt and Qt Quick -based apps makes it all very easy and convenient thus enabling the potential better. It's true that it isn't the most exciting platform right now, but it's certainly on the right path.

Yeah, but that's like saying that Lotus 123 was on the right path when they finally ported it to Windows. With Qt/Qt Quick you get an environment that is sort of competitive with where iOS and Android were over a year ago. Meanwhile, iOS and Android have moved on and are accelerating development of their SDKs, and Nokia is falling further & further behind. Anyway, say you build your app, thinking how great it will be…

Hmm, in my opinion Qt/Qt Quick is certainly superior to Android in many respects today. And I do use both.

Re: Nokia CEO: Nokia is "standing on a burning platform"

#123

Post by gsk »

evgen wrote: post #83
ergo98 wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

10 years ago Apple had 5 billion in revenue. Now they're pushing 100 billion in revenue. They butting in on competitors who operate in the 5% margin range, and who are all desperately starting to claw back at Apple's gains. No, it isn't sustainable. History will prove me out, and in 3 years I would bet that Apple has seen a significant margin haircut. Quote me on a 50% decline. As a comparison, by the way, look at So…

EDIT: Arrowed down. This is one of those seminal moments that speak volumes about a community, and I think HN is done (just furthering an observation that has grown). Account and site abandoned. I would say please don't let the door hit you in this ass on your way out, but you are a bog-standard troll and will be back again next week whining about Apple.

that was not necessary.

Re: Nokia CEO: Nokia is "standing on a burning platform"

#124

Post by michael_dorfman »

limmeau wrote: post #111
ghshephard wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Totally Agree - while I loved the memo, it would have had more impact with me if it hadn't had it's central theme cribbed from 'the book of management phrases' that I hear from multiple CEOs. Ironically, I was inspired _the first time_ I heard those sayings- because I thought it was something clever our CEO had come up with. Imagine how depressed I must have felt when I heard the same phrases come up over, and over a…

I thought the idea was to become the chicken, not the pig? But my management lingo isn't fluent.

When I've heard it, at several workplaces (decades ago), the stated objective was always to be the pig-- to go "all in." The chicken was involved, the pig was committed-- thus we are asking you to be committed.

Usually, after the meeting, a few of us would quietly point out that the pig was eaten, and they were asking us to sacrifice ourselves to the project, but that never seemed to discourage the metaphor from coming up, again and again.

Re: Nokia CEO: Nokia is "standing on a burning platform"

#125

Post by paganel »

IMHO, this does nothing else than hurt morale. It's not that the Nokia engineers were so stupid as to not know where their platform stands. This memo only contains lamentations over lamentations, with only a small, general call to action towards the end: "We are working on a path forward -- a path to rebuild our market leadership. When we share the new strategy on February 11, it will be a huge effort to transform our company. "

The way I see these types of memos work is like this: spend the first part of it describing the problem, and the second part should include the suggested solutions. I know a former boss of mine who , if I didn't do that in my "lamentation" emails, i.e. not suggest solutions, would have smashed my head against the nearest desk.

Re: Nokia CEO: Nokia is "standing on a burning platform"

#128

Post by dirtyaura »

Peaker wrote: post #101

I think Nokia have repeatedly been making really dumb decisions about both their marketing and implementation. Some examples include: * Code-naming their phones obscurely, making it nearly impossible to remember and later buying a phone you like. Compare "Galaxy S" and "iPhone 3G" with "N6310". * Not bothering to place the phone's name anywhere remotely visible on the phone, so you have to yank the battery out if you…

Code-naming their phones obscurely, making it nearly impossible to remember and later buying a phone you like. Compare "Galaxy S" and "iPhone 3G" with "N6310".

Nokia's phone naming strategy was certainly not dumb at the time. They built brand around 'Nokia', not around specific models. You had 'Nokia' phone regardless of the model, similarly as you currently have 'iPhone' regardless of the exact model. (And current iPhone numbering i.e. 2G, 3G, 4 is easy to remember just because there are so few models) It was an integral part of Nokia's strategy that there were many many models to choose from, any single strong model brand could have been hindrance for that strategy.

Now, we can argue that in smartphone era, building strong model brands might be wiser strategy (Galaxy S), but that's another discussion. Nokia's model naming strategy was definitely not stupid in earlier times.

Re: Nokia CEO: Nokia is "standing on a burning platform"

#129

Post by blub »

limmeau wrote: post #110
joe_the_user wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, and you could put QT on top of it!

A C++ framework on top of a mobile OS in which most interesting things happen in the Dalvik VM? What for?

Most interesting things including lawsuits. If things turn sour with Dalvik, Qt already runs on Android.

Re: Nokia CEO: Nokia is "standing on a burning platform"

#130

Post by brc »

bambax wrote: post #82

I worked for Accenture (then Andersen Consulting) in Paris in 1995 when a new team of Englishmen were brought in from London to "turn the French practice around". Their theme? "Burning platform". The exact same story that opens the memo was their story too. Maybe this Mr Elop is really an original thinker that will do great things; but the "burning platform" analogy is the most tired image EVER. Oh, and did it work i…

At least it wasn't the lighthouse/battleship story. If I hear that one more time I'm going to start laughing.
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