Why Nokia Is Toast

CWmike writes "It's hard to remember now, but there was a time when Finland was at the center of the cell phone universe. No more. Nokia is being killed by complexity. Along comes Microsoft with Windows Phone 7, delivering more complexity. My view is that Microsoft doesn't matter, writes Mike Elgan. Although Windows Phone 7 is a way better operating system than Symbian, Nokia's problem isn't Symbian, and the solution isn't Windows Phone 7. Nokia's problem is that it follows the losing strategies of the other losers in the market, and rejects the only two known winning strategies. There are way too many Nokia phones. This causes either choice paralysis, sending buyers screaming to Apple for relief, or buyer's remorse. Nokia should take the advice Steve Jobs gave to Nike CEO Mark Parker: 'Just get rid of the crappy stuff and focus on the good stuff.'" And maybe Nokia isn't toast at all: reader high_rolla points out an interesting bit of speculation that the Nokia-Microsoft pact is part of a grand plan "to become the exclusive manufacturer of hardware for MS phones and tablets."

Comments

At least they won't be using Symbian

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm glad they'll be using WP7, as opposed to Symbian, which is a slow and bloated half-assed unpolished amateurish piece of shit software written by a fuckton of sweaty Indians with no degree. Just like truly open source software (except they're written by fat virgin neckbeards).

Re:A Microsoft Nokia bad-analogy award

[hairyfeet]

Wow, way to miss the entire point of the Xbox! look up interviews at the start of the Xbox and you'll see that the Xbox making profits weren't the goal although now I understand they are making good money with it.

So what was the goal you ask? Simple to have control of the living room which many would argue has been a smashing success for MSFT. Very few buy HTPCs but households all across the land have the X360 and ALL those eyeballs belong to MSFT now. They can also promote other products by tying with the X360, like how well Windows 7 Media Center integrates with the X360. So I'd call the X360 a serious win, as it did EXACTLY what it was supposed to do, get MSFT from the office into the living room. If you want to talk fail bring up the Zune or Kin.

As for TFA if the second FL is correct I'd say it is the first damned smart mobile move MSFT has made in some time. Nokia makes kick ass hardware but their OS sucks, and by making the killer Nokia hardware exclusively WinPhone 7 MSFT will make it MUCH easier to make a powerful smartphone with the features and battery life folks want. One of the reasons Apple kicks butt in this area is the well known fact that by controlling the entire chain, from the OS down to the hardware, they can specifically optimize the OS for the specs and make a much better running device. From what I've seen WinPhone 7 is a nice OS but could be better, and with Nokia hardware powering it they lower support costs and make more tightly integrated phones that make better use of the hardware.

Sounds like win/win to me, especially if they then tie into the X360, like having a portable version of popular games you can take with you. Then you could have a top to bottom integrated solution like MSFT does in the office with AD+Exchange+Sharepoint by having Windows 7+X360+Nokia WinPhone all integrated nicely. Imagine built in easy to use Windows 7 RD so you could access your media at home through the phone, or to use your phone or tablet as a media controller for the X360/Win 7 combo. Sounds nice to me.