The recent revelation of a leaked internal memo from Stephen Elop, the CEO of Nokia, to his organisation’s staff hints at a looming step change in focus for the world’s biggest mobile phone manufacturer. Having seen its market share eaten away at both ends of the scale by competitors such as Apple and Google’s Android, he has hinted that the company now finds itself standing on a ‘burning platform’ and needs to make a critical decision to ensure its survival.
This decision seems to be focused on partnering with another major phone manufacturer as the current ‘ecosystem’ approach of building constantly evolving handset operating systems, applications-led interactivity, retail marketplaces etc. has left Nokia out in the cold. Its MeeGo software has failed to deliver and its Ovi store has trailed far behind the Apple and Android retail approaches. The likely partner appears to be Microsoft and its fairly new Windows Phone 7 operating system. Any joint approach would likely be a good move for both companies and Elop used to work for Microsoft so it seems logical.
He blames a loss in brand preference in key markets and the strategic foresight of Apple and Google who built much-desired high-end phones that established their credentials and high levels of public desire. Google then began the assault on the mid-range market that Nokia has dominated for so long and has now set it sights on the low-end as well with even cheaper Android powered-devices.
The memo is very frank and is an incredible insight in to a massive technology company’s corporate thinking and one can only hope they right their ship before it does indeed burn and sink…
The full memo can be found on Engadget here
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