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Nokita: A Plan to Raise Billions and buy out Nokia before Microsoft

arcticstartup.com

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Re: Nokita: A Plan to Raise Billions and buy out Nokia before Microsoft

#31

Post by throwawaykf02 »

Zigurd wrote: post #23
Geee wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nokia doesn't have money any more to develop Android phones on their own. They don't even have money to continue with WP strategy on their own. Elop spent billions of Nokia's money to boot Windows Phone and restructure the operation as a Microsoft division. It was 'all in' with Nokia's money.

Nokia has, at least, the resources to operate its infrastructure division. There have been sorrier messes in the mobile OEM business. Nokia has Android ready to go on existing devices. Bringing up Android isn't rocket surgery. You would have to ask the Jolla people how much it would cost to put Sailfish on existing devices. I bet their answer would be under $10M. In other words, claims that Nokia had to "focus" on on…

I'm not sure that was bunk in Nokia's case. When they realized that Symbian had to go, they also realized that the vast bulk of the company was organized around that one OS. And if sources are to be believed, most of that deadweight was fiefdoms jealously guarded by entrenched groups, which meant they were not going to be conducive to "pivot" to a new direction. Now they had to shed that humongous deadweight and produce a competitive "modern" smartphone. I think it's entirely possible that in that situation whatever resources you have left, you may well have no choice but to bet the farm.

Nokia may have used Android to force Microsoft into a buyout, but I doubt they were going to seriously pursue it, for one big reason: that would have entailed compulsorily licensing Google Maps, which is a direct competitor to their own mapping division. You may think that doesn't sound so bad, but consider this:

1) It dilutes the billions they paid for Navteq.

2) As the SkyHook lawsuits have shown us(IIRC) Google demands all location data produced by Android devices to improve their own geo services. As such, Nokia would have ended up building devices that end up improving a competing service.

3) Considering the mapping division is one of only three divisions Nokia held on to, it's undoubtedly important to them long term. I am not sure, in their eyes, the pros of having an Android phone out there would have outweighed the cons of improving a competing mapping service.

Re: Nokita: A Plan to Raise Billions and buy out Nokia before Microsoft

#32

Post by throwawaykf02 »

Zigurd wrote: post #13

Probably not this proposal, but there are a couple scenarios that could lead to Nokia being a takeover target: 1. Microsoft's activist shareholders tanking the deal, perhaps by pointing out that buying Nokia's factories and the whole legacy handset business including Series 30 and Asha is pretty crazy. 2. Nokia's board concluding that, now that they are rid of Elop, could reboot Nokia themselves: spin Jolla back in,…

Regarding Asha: I hear Asha is doing crazy well in low-end markets. Not sure how Microsoft can leverage it, but I'm sure they are aware of this.

Re: Nokita: A Plan to Raise Billions and buy out Nokia before Microsoft

#34

Post by Mikeb85 »

jgreen10 wrote: post #19

Can someone explain why Elop did a bad job? No one was buying Nokia phones anymore... they are now.

He canned their best phone (N9) and OS (Meego), only to pursue a clearly inferior business strategy, drive the stock price down, and enable a Microsoft takeover...

Re: Nokita: A Plan to Raise Billions and buy out Nokia before Microsoft

#35

Post by jevinskie »

sz4kerto wrote: post #4

> Corporate Culture Reboot to 2002 Wow, that would be very useful. Should we reboot Blackberry to it's 2008 culture, Microsoft to 1996, Yahoo to 1999?

How do you reboot a company's culture? The culture is something that is developed over many years, "rebooting" it would take quite a bit of time if it is even possible at all.

Re: Nokita: A Plan to Raise Billions and buy out Nokia before Microsoft

#36

Post by Zigurd »

throwawaykf02 wrote: post #32
Zigurd wrote: post #13

Probably not this proposal, but there are a couple scenarios that could lead to Nokia being a takeover target: 1. Microsoft's activist shareholders tanking the deal, perhaps by pointing out that buying Nokia's factories and the whole legacy handset business including Series 30 and Asha is pretty crazy. 2. Nokia's board concluding that, now that they are rid of Elop, could reboot Nokia themselves: spin Jolla back in,…

Regarding Asha: I hear Asha is doing crazy well in low-end markets. Not sure how Microsoft can leverage it, but I'm sure they are aware of this.

Asha WAS doing well is developing world markets. Asha is now a dying business. http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://allaboutwindowsph...

Microsoft bought itself another Kin.

Re: Nokita: A Plan to Raise Billions and buy out Nokia before Microsoft

#37

Post by Zigurd »

throwawaykf02 wrote: post #31
Zigurd wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nokia has, at least, the resources to operate its infrastructure division. There have been sorrier messes in the mobile OEM business. Nokia has Android ready to go on existing devices. Bringing up Android isn't rocket surgery. You would have to ask the Jolla people how much it would cost to put Sailfish on existing devices. I bet their answer would be under $10M. In other words, claims that Nokia had to "focus" on on…

I'm not sure that was bunk in Nokia's case. When they realized that Symbian had to go, they also realized that the vast bulk of the company was organized around that one OS. And if sources are to be believed, most of that deadweight was fiefdoms jealously guarded by entrenched groups, which meant they were not going to be conducive to "pivot" to a new direction. Now they had to shed that humongous deadweight and prod…

Re Skyhook: Google has made no such demand on any OEM. Google demanded Moto not replace Google location services with Skyhook. Many Android phones have shipped with, e.g. Verizon's location services and maps.

Based on what has appeared in commerce, you can run, and preload if you are an OEM, any competing service on an Android device. But Google draws the line at denying Google data from their own apps. Seems reasonable.

Re: Nokita: A Plan to Raise Billions and buy out Nokia before Microsoft

#38

Post by killme »

Zigurd wrote: post #36
throwawaykf02 wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Regarding Asha: I hear Asha is doing crazy well in low-end markets. Not sure how Microsoft can leverage it, but I'm sure they are aware of this.

Asha WAS doing well is developing world markets. Asha is now a dying business. http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://allaboutwindowsph... Microsoft bought itself another Kin.

What makes you think Microsoft bought Nokia for the Asha business?

Re: Nokita: A Plan to Raise Billions and buy out Nokia before Microsoft

#39

Post by dragontamer »

bentcorner wrote: post #29
Noughmad wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's more like the other way around. I used to know lots of people with Nokia phones, both feature phones and smartphones. Now there are only iPhones and Androids, I don't think I've seen a phone with Windows except in a store. Besides, Nokia had great reputation as a quality brand. Some of their phones were unbreakable. They've lost their reputation since their deal with MS.

I'd like to see them continue on the path that the Lumia 1020 set - premium camera smartphone. I think there's a good niche for them there that is very hard for Apple to get into due to asthetics (a Lumia can have a bump on the back for a large fast lens that would be very unusual for an iPhone).

Case in point: The Lumia 1020 is using Nokia's relatively old technology. The Nokia 808 PureView was released in Feb 2012, yet received very little recognition.

All of a sudden, a year later, the Lumia 1020 seems like a "fresh, new" idea. When in fact, Nokia has been marketing this EXACT SAME IDEA for over a year. For better or for worse, the "Windows Phone" brand turns heads. Lumia1020 is sticking with people a lot more than "PureView 808"

Re: Nokita: A Plan to Raise Billions and buy out Nokia before Microsoft

#40

Post by asveikau »

morkbot wrote: post #28
icefox wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[citation needed]

WP started to get some traction recently, nothing earth-shattering but still... http://thenextweb.com/insider/2013/11/04/report-windows-phon...

And how does that compare with Symbian sales before Elop? I have not looked at a comparison, but it would not surprise me if Windows Phone has not yet caught up.

Don't get me wrong, I am not a Symbian fanboy and I think Nokia held onto it for too long, but the notion that "no one was buying Nokia phones" is not the whole story. It probably resonates with the average HN reader, who is relatively young, lives in the US and carries an iPhone or Android device. It probably also accurately represents where the Symbian market was going long term. But it's not the whole story.

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