

Nokia tries to reinvent itself: Bears at the door - bensummers
http://www.economist.com/businessfinance/displayStory.cfm?story_id=15213843

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kenshi
I think Nokia's future is really going to be determined by their ability to
make great software. There is no question that they can make great hardware,
but pretty much in all cases their software is letting them down. Can this
hardware engineering dominated company make the shift to an organisation that
can make great software? Do the managers and executive team know how to hire,
motivate and manage great software people? Beyond that: Can they get their
software teams to release quality products that get deployed to end-users? Can
they do effective developer support and platform evangelism?

I kind of always root for Nokia because they are a successful European tech
company. Unfortunately for the past 10 years they haven't failed to let
expectations down. Maybe all this increased competition will get them to make
all the changes they need - they certainly sounded serious at a developer
outreach event I went to last year. The event still didn't leave me convinced
they understood hackers though, or how to inspire application developers to
write for their platforms.

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davidw
Dupe: <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1039390>

But I voted it up since the original didn't get any attention.

I think Nokia is at an 'interesting' point. Here in Europe, they are way more
important than either Apple or any of the various Android things, but they
look wobbly. I will be curious to see how things work out for them, if they
are indeed able to reinvent themselves.

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felixmar
I was one of the few who voted it up. It's a well written article with good
comments.

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ivankirigin
The economist is the best magazine today. I just got a subscription for
christmas, and I'm delighted with the print edition.

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fauigerzigerk
"While giving Symbian a makeover it is also pushing a new operating system,
called Maemo, for the grandest, computer-like smart-phones."

I guess that quote shows quite well what's wrong in terms of attracting
developers.

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eru
What do you try to hint at? Do you mean they should just go with some form of
Unix, a proven way to attract hackers?

Actually <http://maemo.org/> does not look too bad. (And maemo may actually be
close to Linux or so. I haven't checked in depth, yet.)

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fauigerzigerk
No, what I'm saying is that they should commit themselves to one OS for high
end devices. As a developer, how do I know whether Maemo or Symbian has a
future? Neither has a significant installed base outside of Nokia. Right now
Nokia doesn't exist for me as a developer. I don't believe a word they say.
They are confused and I believe they could announce Android support tomorrow.

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yason
The question "When is Nokia going to announce an Android phone?" and their
known response captures pretty much everything that's wrong with Nokia.

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blub
The answer is hopefully never. Android is an over-hyped mobile OS in geek
circles (The Google Andoid Army), but it is not well known in the market. It
is almost unheard of in Europe for instance...

Personally I dislike Android from all possible points of view. Both
technically (Java, HTC) and philosophically (Ad-OS, cloud).

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sree_nair
Us & Europe, Yes, thay are in Trouble . But in Emerging Markets, it's only the
top 10 % who can afford/ will want the RIM/Apple/Google phones. So they still
have some legs there for the nxt 5 years.

It's a fundamental change in the way mobile phoes & their markets work that
has caught them. and i guess there'll never be that Nokia Domination again in
US & Europe.

