The Nokia Movement, is Elop right?

[anon(5335899)]

So, two years after the 'Burning Platform' message from Elop, where is Nokia at now?

It would seem that so far the strategy has worked out. Obviously there are a few kinks along the way, things that you simply do not see coming but overall I'd say Nokia delivered. If you listen to the message which is broadcast by Nokia over the last two years it has gone from;

The burning platform (2yrs ago)
Elop was right here. Symbian was a dead end and would not scale down (or up) well to go where it needed to go. Meego was cool, but it also was not _really_ going anywhere. Also seeing where Sailfish is going now it was good to cut the cord IMO. The quick result was;

Getting with the WP program to getting a solid phone out to market quick (L800)
The Lumia 800 was a brilliant effort using the parts left from the N9 development and building on that. It showed perfectly where the Nokia/MSFT partnership would go. Then we went to;

Implementing existing tech and in-house innovation into the handsets (L920)
It's hard to deny or ignore the 920 is the most innovative phone around. The tech it uses is new to mobile phones and for a large part years ahead of the competition. When delivered the message changed to;

Getting a full product range (520-920)
This MWC we see the range of phones basically covering every budget. The clear story is that each new model range will see the innovations from the previous scale down and enter into the lower range phones. If you look objectively the 920 was a new top of the line then we saw 900 > 820, 800 >720, 710>620 and 610 > 520. I am pretty sure we'll see the same trend when the line up refreshes in the fall. This also leads us to the current message;

Getting these phones into the hands of users (keynote MWC 2013) and 'We are very interested.... In Blackberry users' (Elop in the Bloomberg interview a day or so ago).
It shows that Nokia clearly had the strategy to build the product range, then go out and sell, sell, sell and this is where we are right now. If they pull this off I think we'll see the shortages gone soon. They created the demand and started building momentum. Now is the time to step on the gas and run with it. If you follow the interviews Elop has given over the past few years he follows the exact strategy as above. The current message seems to indicate Nokia feels they are ready to do battle. In a big way.

I think we're in for some exiting times.


Oh and this is just my thoughts.. Obviously your mileage may vary, but feel free to comment..

 

[WavingReds]

good read, I like the way Nokia is going, concentrating on WP

 

[d_abbatelli]

So, two years after the 'Burning Platform' message from Elop, where is Nokia at now?

It would seem that so far the strategy has worked out. Obviously there are a few kinks along the way, things that you simply do not see coming but overall I'd say Nokia delivered. If you listen to the message which is broadcast by Nokia over the last two years it has gone from;

The burning platform (2yrs ago)
Elop was right here. Symbian was a dead end and would not scale down (or up) well to go where it needed to go. Meego was cool, but it also was not _really_ going anywhere. Also seeing where Sailfish is going now it was good to cut the cord IMO. The quick result was;

Getting with the WP program to getting a solid phone out to market quick (L800)
The Lumia 800 was a brilliant effort using the parts left from the N9 development and building on that. It showed perfectly where the Nokia/MSFT partnership would go. Then we went to;

Implementing existing tech and in-house innovation into the handsets (L920)
It's hard to deny or ignore the 920 is the most innovative phone around. The tech it uses is new to mobile phones and for a large part years ahead of the competition. When delivered the message changed to;

Getting a full product range (520-920)
This MWC we see the range of phones basically covering every budget. The clear story is that each new model range will see the innovations from the previous scale down and enter into the lower range phones. If you look objectively the 920 was a new top of the line then we saw 900 > 820, 800 >720, 710>620 and 610 > 520. I am pretty sure we'll see the same trend when the line up refreshes in the fall. This also leads us to the current message;

Getting these phones into the hands of users (keynote MWC 2013) and 'We are very interested.... In Blackberry users' (Elop in the Bloomberg interview a day or so ago).
It shows that Nokia clearly had the strategy to build the product range, then go out and sell, sell, sell and this is where we are right now. If they pull this off I think we'll see the shortages gone soon. They created the demand and started building momentum. Now is the time to step on the gas and run with it. If you follow the interviews Elop has given over the past few years he follows the exact strategy as above. The current message seems to indicate Nokia feels they are ready to do battle. In a big way.

I think we're in for some exiting times.


Oh and this is just my thoughts.. Obviously your mileage may vary, but feel free to comment..

I basically agree with you, but I would wait to say that the shortages are gone...
The "telephone department" was still losing money at the end of 2012, and starting 2013 they don't get money from Microsoft anymore.
The Lumia are selling good, but I didn't see the "boom" yet, and that's mainly because of the problems and the limitations that are still present in WP8.

In the Nokia-Microsoft agreement, Nokia did its part and even more: they developed some killer apps, they paid the advertising, the exclusives for other apps and the whole Lumia series is some really well crafted piece of hardware.
On the other hand, from Microsoft side, WP7.8 has been mainly disappointing and WP8 still lacks so many features that there is a sticky topic with a long list in the main WP forum...

Being in Elop, I would put some serious pressure on Microsoft...

 

[pavvento]

I basically agree with you, but I would wait to say that the shortages are gone...
The "telephone department" was still losing money at the end of 2012, and starting 2013 they don't get money from Microsoft anymore.
The Lumia are selling good, but I didn't see the "boom" yet, and that's mainly because of the problems and the limitations that are still present in WP8.

In the Nokia-Microsoft agreement, Nokia did its part and even more: they developed some killer apps, they paid the advertising, the exclusives for other apps and the whole Lumia series is some really well crafted piece of hardware.
On the other hand, from Microsoft side, WP7.8 has been mainly disappointing and WP8 still lacks so many features that there is a sticky topic with a long list in the main WP forum...

Being in Elop, I would put some serious pressure on Microsoft...

That's an interesting point at the end of your comment. It's becoming more clear that MS needs Nokia more than Nokia needs Microsoft.

 

[Letros]

I was skeptical at first, but having a Lumia in every price tier is the first step forward, I think they can pull this off and WP will have 10% marketshare sooner than we thought was possible.

 

[d_abbatelli]

That's an interesting point at the end of your comment. It's becoming more clear that MS needs Nokia more than Nokia needs Microsoft.

I wouldn't go so far... Microsoft has plenty of money, they can afford huge investments on WP, while Nokia's financial situation is not good at all.
What I see is that Nokia is pushing WP more than Microsoft itself. Now that the MS-Nokia agreement is over (or it should be), MS must give Nokia some valid reasons to keep producing only WP, and it is in its best interest to do that, since Nokia sells 80% of their phones (I'm not sure about this number, but that's what I read somewhere).
With Android slowly solving the lag problems, a telephone with Android vanilla, Nokia exclusive apps and Nokia quality is what a lot of people is dreaming about.

 

[vlad0]

For their mobile platform efforts, yes.. Nokia is essential to Microsoft. I really don't see how HTC would be able to carry the platform by itself.. without Nokia WP will be at around 1% market share right now, and.. if Nokia did go with android or kept their own platforms, that would mean that HTC would be facing one more competitor in the market place.

As far as Samsung.. they don't seem to care too much at this point.

Nokia isn't making any money from the Lumia line just yet, so.. we will have to wait and see where this goes. Its certainly a great deal for Microsoft, but from Nokia's perspective.. still a question mark.