This quote comes from Nokia CEO Stephen Elop. The platform that he refers to is metaphorical, but one can easily understand it as Symbian, or Maemo, or MeeGo or any of Nokia’s attempts at developing or upgrading a smartphone platform that would be competitive with the modern mobile operating systems, such as Apple’s iOS or Google’s Android.
To many users, it’s been apparent for years that Nokia has failed to keep up with competitors. It is now easy to substantiate this claim, as Nokia has been rapidly losing smartphone market share in the past couple quarters. But it’s been even easier to realize this by using a smartphone built by Nokia and an iPhone or Android device. Simply put, Nokia’s smartphones aren’t good enough.
Now, in a s urprisingly honest internal memo, Elop has addressed Nokia’s employees, admitting exactly that. You can read the memo in its entirety below, but here are some of the highlights.
Starting out with a parable of a man on a burning platform, Elop says the man had a “radical change in his behaviour.” He then talks directly about Apple and Android, admitting that Apple has “changed the game, and today, Apple owns the high-end range,” while “Google has become a gravitational force, drawing much of the industry’s innovation to its core.”
Elop then admits that Nokia “fell behind,” “missed big trends” and “lost time.” Finally, he announces a big strategy change. “When we share the new strategy on February 11, it will be a huge effort to transform our company,” he said.
Could Nokia be abandoning Symbian and, possibly, MeeGo as well? Could it finally be joining the ranks of manufacturers that...
