Straight from the Elop’s Mouth
Was curious so I thought i’d try sending Elop an email. Used Stephen.Elop@nokia.com. To my surprise I received a reply answering my questions. Is it really the Nokia CEO or just a troll?
I asked a few questions that i’ve seen asked by others and thought i’d put that rumour that’s been floating around across the internet out there, regarding Australia’s market launch.
Here’s how it went down:
Hi Stephen,
I have a few questions.
First, i have no definitive answer on whether or not the second button on the side (beneath volume) is the Power/Screen Lock button. Can you confirm this?
Secondly, I have heard Australia will be the first market to launch the device, is this true?
Thirdly, Can you confirm whether or not Meego – Harmattan (or the N9 itself) will continue to get support in the coming years?
Finally, Why kill off MeeGo when it has the potential to be better then WP and iOS? Is it due to past loyalties?Thank you for your time,
Michael
This was the reply I received;
Hello there,
Thanks for your note. The second button on the side is indeed the power/screen lock button. We are not confirming the sequencing of markets, as they each have unique requirements that must be considered and it is hard to predict the precise order as we go through various national certification programs. The N9 will be supported by Nokia in the years to come to ensure customers are well served. And finally, elements of the N9 will live on in the future, although we are deliberately not sharing all details, although we have noted that elements of industrial design, user interface and the development environment are of particular interest. In our strategic assessment, we determined that the MeeGo effort could not quickly enough deliver us a range of solutions across price points, radio technologies, etc. for us to effectively compete, so we had to make an alternative decision.
Regards,
Stephen
I have just sent a follow-up email thanking him for responding and asking one final question, Will the USA and/or UK get the N9? Let’s hope we get a definitive answer on this. I’ll keep you updated.
Michael
UPDATE: He replied with the standard issue secret response;
Sorry, not confirming launch countries at this point. Regardless of where we are specifically launching it, however, there will be unlocked versions available through various online locations.
Regards,
Stephen
Jay: There’s been reports of Stephen Elop replying from this email address to email from the public. Is this actually Stephen or Nokia staff trained to respond as if they were Stephen?
Category: Nokia
About the Author (Author Profile)
Hi! My name is Michael. Like the others, I'm also a Student, living here in Sydney. I have a real passion for the latest technology and I'm a real Nokia buff! My aim is to keep those of you, like myself, updated with the latest in what's going on in the Nokia World. Currently sporting an N8, N9, N950 and Lumia 800. Send tips to me on Twitter via @MFaroTusino or the site's page @MyNokiaBlog, or even simply drop me an email at MichaelMNB[at]hotmail.com.au or tips[at]mynokiablog.comSubscribe
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Sites That Link to this Post
- Stephen Elop explains why Nokia dumped Meego for Windows Phone 7 | WMPoweruser | August 5, 2011
- CEO da Nokia afirma ter mais fé no Windows Phone 7 do que no Meego - Windows Phone Brasil : Windows Phone Brasil | August 5, 2011
- Smartphone OS Proliferation: The Madness Has Stopped | Mobile Computing Trek | September 4, 2011
- [MAJ] Un second point sur la disponibilité du Nokia N9 : dates et pays ? | NokiaPhones.fr | October 18, 2011
he’s an asshole
takes one to know one
+1
He’s not. There’s no passion in strategy, he’s juste looking a bit further than we do. I dont like his way of transforming Nokia, I recently bought a X7 and I really love the way it works, that simple, efficient way, but his job is not to put some fresh paint on the old boat ; he’s not talking about love and the good ol’days, he’s paid to transform Nokia, to change it from top to botom, to create, to make the nok-revolution. I might fail, but he wont appologise:-)
+1
+1
Further??? edof cameras when every other manufacturer put autofucus in their smartphones. insist in making phones with 680ghz and 250mb of ram? that´s not going further, that going to the past.
further? symbian and meego are os´s nokia worked hard on and and delivered a lot of innovations in them. instead they choose an already made and almost failed os that doesn´t let much custumization, they accept impositions from microsoft, they spend a lot of money in a ridiculous agreement when they could get android free, they fire a lot of peaple, they put all nokia individuality in the trash. that´s not going further, that´s being coward and taking bad, unthought decisions. He´s paid to transform or to talk bad about symbian-nokia and make the market share of the company drop dramatically. Even with all the criticism nokia was still successful until elop. What he did was like telling a vampire(microsoft) please bit me. He told the consumers: all the products of my company are shit but hopefully one day they will be great with the help of the leech(microsoft) that now is just sucking nokia´s blood to succeed. I wonder how can you think that making several idiotical decisions and insult his own company is going further. Ok it may be going further to the bottom of the well. Is not nokvolution he is working for but micrvolution. the only thing is that it won´t happen.
in fact they receive a lot of money for this dide-butch agreement from Microsoft. (and from Apple too. sorry, had to make it again..)
The evolution of Symbian was too slow (it hurt to say that, as a Symbian user) my X7 is eficient, but not “sexy” as the marketing guy will try to sell it to the masses. This is the goal: financial efficiency, shares, not tech.
For the common man, (the one with the extatic smile, not the mynokiablog reader) Symbian doesnt exist, he know barely what a smartphone is and call it a “like a sort of iphone*.
So Slope (I love this contraption) is not going further, you’re right. he’s just looking further, trying to cope with the economics of Nokia, smartphone division, and make it works but not the tech way, the financial one.
going further was a sarchasm. one year of elop and nokia lost half of its market share, one more year and it will go to bankruptcy. The financial one?? are you kidding they a just waiting for a prosperous wp7 that most probably will never happen. No wonder why nokia is one of the brands that will dissapear in 2012 according to 24/7 Wall St.
So true… The sad and ugly part is Nokia still not moving away from Elop and Co’s stupidity.
remmeber that they gave him the key, he didn’t come just like that, seing the light from the garden. Nokia elected him, they knew what was the project before kissing him on the mouth. Too bad or too late, they wont change now.
(BTW, the WSJ is like S.Lope, they got 50% chance to tell the truth, like you and me
I agree, he’s an ass
+5
+666
He can eat shit for all I care. MeeGo is superior to iOS, Android and WP7!
Agreed!
Drive up demand by searching in Amazon. If Amazon demands unlocked N9, Nokia would be foolish not to supply them.
+1
+2
Interface wise I never saw anything as awesomely simple and smooth. But I reserve my final judgment until after it is released and proper reviewed (note: put under strain and real day-to-day usage).
Meego does not even exist yet so your judgement seems a little pre mature. No, N9 is not Meego – just Harmattan-Meego. Will be interesting to see how long it takes for a pure Meego phone to come out – if one ever does..
I think it is safe to assume that they are actually referring to MeeGo-Harmattan on the N9, rather than pure MeeGo.
Yes, I know. The point is that Nokia pushing a Maemo-Harmattan-Meego OS on its own is (would have been) unlikely to be sustainable, and the real Meego that would be needed for that OS and ecosystem to have a fighting change and survive is nowhere near ready!
Yeah, especially now that Elop has trimmed down the Meego team to focus all their efforts into WP…
“Meego does not even exist yet so your judgement seems a little pre mature”
I agree 100%. People that have been saying this really baffle me. When Android was on the rise, Symbian fans were saying all Android offers is a “pretty UI.” Here we are today, and all anyone really knows about the N9/MeeGo is that its UI is pretty awesome. Note: having capability does NOT equal flawless performance!
Until we know how well MeeGo performs, there is no basis for saying it is “superior to iOS, Android and WP7.” There is much to be excited about when talking about the N9/MeeGo, but we don’t have any grounds to make such statements…yet.
What ‘performance’ are you not able to assess from the video demo’s? I have watched every one and the N9 is looking pretty flawless in its operation…
Does it do push email? Symbian videos showed email working on these devices, but when I got one, push email was and is still a known issue. What about social networking? Symbian showed the capability, but look at it now. Social sucks. Capability does not equal quality.
“Does it do push mail?”
Yes it does. From http://forum.meego.com/showpost.php?p=23377&postcount=223 :
“About IMAP IDLE, I just tested:
Accounts -> Google or Mail for Exchange (the ones use, probably works with others too) -> Scheduled synchronization -> Peak or Off-peak time interval -> Always up-to-date
And it works. I have tested sending emails from MfE to GMail and vice versa (with wlan connection, I’m traveling and roaming is no fun) and I get the email notifications just a couple of seconds after the Gmail website or Outlook gets the new mail in my laptop.”
Facebook client seemed to be working well in MichaelxHell’s video.
+1
If you’re so clever and have all the answers to the future of Nokia, i’m wondering why you’re not the CEO? Ohhh that’s right .. you don’t know what you are talking about, do you?
well said
+9
Mr Flop is a total Microsoft tool, hoping to get Ballmer’s job one day. He has already made Nokia a Microsoft subsidiary.
Nice response from Elop/Nokia PR. Answers your questions without going into any real details as to why Maemo/Meego isn’t being pushed.
I would be happy for them to continue their push with WP if they would also give MeeGo a fair go as well.
The plan for MeeGo phones–to be the bleeding edge, flagship Nokia phone–could easily coexist with their mainstream WP plans.
I have followed and trialled WP extensively, and while it is usable, I find it quite boring.
Nokia need to keep producing phones with features for the entire market to envy. This is the only way that they will ever be perceived as leaders again.
Nokia almost have the right strategy with Maemo/MeeGo. Except they are not [publicly] pursuing it aggressively enough.
The disruptions need to start now, not in the future.
Couldn’t have said it better myself
@Michael Faro-Tusino – it’s amazing that you would ask Stephen Elop (or anyone at Nokia, for that matter)the 3rd question – You and those of your ilk ALREADY know and have known the answer to this – Meego will not be the primary OS!
1)That elements of Meego technology will live on and be incorporated in Nokia’s future offerings clearly indicates that Nokia is not ‘killing Meego’.
2)That other oem’s (LG, ZTE, Huawai, and others) will be producing Meego devices ensures that Meego enthusiasts will have many devices to choose from going forward; again, Meego lives on.
Given these two points, the vitriol towards Stephen Elop and Nokia is senseless.
I did know. However, some of our readers are still not convinced
“1)That elements of Meego technology will live on and be incorporated in Nokia’s future offerings clearly indicates that Nokia is not ‘killing Meego’.”
To me this sounds like hacking apart useful parts/ideas of MeeGo to use in next platform of choice aka WP. Why?
Harmattan UI/UX we see in N9 is reconstructed after Elop’s arrival and new Harmattan already looks like a middle step between Maemo and WP.
So perhaps Elop’s to thank for some good decision after all? Who knew..
Btw, to me the most interesting part in his response was the reference to radio technologies and Meego’s current (apparent) inability to support a wide enough range of those technologies. Have not seen him mention that before.
I suspect there are many considerations the likes of us would never know off.
Well guys, I am network expert. As a part of my job, I have handled lots of different kind of mobile or OS. If Elop wants to say radio or network and tell that WP7 is mature than nokia’s old platform he is just simply bullshit. Why??
1. Symbian is fully designed by considering mobile technology and it very much consistent with 3GPP(Governing body to develop GSM/3G/LTE) protocol. For an example by using symbian u can activate multiple pdp(technical term: NSAPI) but by using andorid/iOS/WP7 its not possible,by using that kind of OS u can activate only one pdp or data connection. Another point, if u will go to android blog u will get that A party can’t see “Call waiting” in his display when B party is busy with some other guy. Same kind of problem exist in iOS/WP7.But symbian, we never find that kind basic problem.
2. 3GPP or GSM/3G/LTE is moving IP technology and in future LTE voice will go through IP or SIP protocol(same kind of underlying communication technology used by skype). You guys know that voice is main source of operator’s revenue. Nowadays operators/carriers are giving so much flexibility on skype or that kind of service to capture data market. We called that kind of technology dumb pipe. But by introducing PCC(Policy controller and charging) they can easily shutdown that kind of service. So operator first will capture data market and wait until LTE become mature technology and then replace MS loved skype by their own technology(IMS). As a geek, previous os developer and network expert I always say that he is just a crappy(MS guy not nokia) and not more that. May be Nokia lost market with apple/andorid in 3G field but Nokia has time to come back with meego when every electronic device will control by IP and clouding fuel (Network). If you look Meego core part u will get that it can use in other electronic system (like vehicle,notebook). With core just to add additional UI (like nokia swipe) Sorry for my weak English.
+1million
Please, thank the Meego/Harmattan design team…
Thank Elop for the quarterly profit loss and laying off employees…
Art work I sit opposite some of the engineers, who do the sw for our evaluation boards (the things we send out to customers to do their prototype development using our chipsets in their products) amongst other things they do hardware adaption for various Linux distributions, including Meego, and also for Windows CE (which under lies Windows phone) (well have done: we have no current customers for Windows CE).
They have said it it’s much easier to work with the Linux Kernel than with Windows CE for getting drivers integrated. You can kind of see this in the plethora of platforms supported by Linux vs. windows Phone (1). And this includes baseband and modem work.
So I think elop is wrong here (at least badly miss informed)
I’ve said this before and i’m saying again. Nokia is definitely working on a new os.
Do you honestly think windows would let them adultrate their os with meego stuff?
OS or UI or both? There is no reason MS would not like additions to its UI that make it better (ASSUMING they fit the whole design philosophy of the UI – makes no sense to slap in things that simply don’t fit).
Thats just like saying apple would allow spb shell for ios. Microsoft would never admit that anyone can make a better ui than them neither would they allow anyone make something microsoft that doesn’t have microsoft written all over it. Heck, hp had to put a label on their slate cuz microsoft requires their branding on all their products.
We’re missing the point. Nokia is dying. Nokia has been left behind in terms of its’ technical position and its’ market position. Anyone with business experience would be able to tell you this simply from the Nokia share price on the NYSE. Not to even mention the annual report! Nokia needs help. Elop is that help. Nokia’s issues are both technical and financial, and require an organizational, technical, and financial fix. Even a first year business student could tell you that. If you think that doing more of what got Nokia to this place will correct the problem then you need to be told the “definition of stupidity”. ” Stupidity is… doing the same thing over and over, while expecting different results” Good luck to Stephen Elop. He has my support in trying to save Nokia, and I’m a shareholder.
-stupidity is making public statements insulting all the products of the company you work in even if you are a simple worker, if you are the ceo then it´s imbecility.
-stupidity is saying that you will stop manufacturing phones with meego even if its successful, that shows that nokia´s ceo doesn´t give a sh.it about what consumers want, he only cares about what microsoft wants.
-stupidity is putting edof cameras and 680ghz, 256mb ram in high end products.
-stupidity is choosing an unsuccessful, inmature os instead of a successful one(android).
-studity is throwing to the trash everything the company worked very hard on(meego, symbian) just hoping that unreleased mango nokia phones will be successful. wp7 sales are disastrous now what makes them think they will improve? And if wp7 fails nokia will go to bankruptcy. you can´t make bussiness with futures hopes but realities. and deceased symbian and meego were realities before elop. they were selling less it´s true but a lot lot lot more than wp7. Android is a successful reality in the present, wp7 is just nothing, zero in the present.
An intelligent person doesn´t risk all his money just on one number. what about a company as big as nokia?
-stupidity is making public statements insulting all the products of the company you work in even if you are a simple worker, if you are the ceo then it´s imbecility.
-stupidity is saying that you will stop manufacturing phones with meego even if its successful, that shows that nokia´s ceo doesn´t give a sh.it about what consumers want, he only cares about what microsoft wants.
-stupidity is putting edof cameras and 680ghz, 256mb ram in high end products…
-stupidity is choosing an unsuccessful, inmature os instead of a successful one(android).
-studity is throwing to the trash everything the company worked very hard on(meego, symbian) just hoping that unreleased mango nokia phones will be successful. wp7 sales are disastrous now what makes them think they will improve? And if wp7 fails nokia will go to bankruptcy. you can´t make bussiness with futures hopes but realities. and deceased symbian and meego were realities before elop. they were selling less it´s true but a lot lot lot more than wp7. Android is a successful reality in the present, wp7 is just nothing, zero in the present.
An intelligent person doesn´t risk all his money just on one number. what about a company as big as nokia?
Although I agree the last statement “the disruption need to start now, not in the future”, I can imagine there are limitations. Every company knows they need to disrupt, and they WANT to disrupt. But realistically, how many can do so?
Apple has certainly disrupted the entire industry with iPhone.
Google has disrupted by providing a free alternative OS – but it took years for this to be really successful and enough of a challenge. It took Android 11 months to get 10k apps.
N9, at this stage, is not even real Meego. It certainly looks promising, and I like it very much. It MIGHT be a disruptor, but certainly not now. It lacks the ecosystem to be a disruptor. Even if it had lots of apps, is it better than iOS or Android? Different, yes. On par, yes. Better, I think probably NOT YET.
If Nokia keeps focusing their efforts to develop on Meego, it will take much more effort and money for them. They’d need to make a “real” Meego rather than Harmattan. They would need to lure developers to this ecosystem. They would need to put a lot of advertising dollars. On the other hand, Windows Phone is already there, has a decent number of apps in the ecosystem (25k, I think?), AND Microsoft as a partner is willing to put money to market the OS and get the developer support. Microsoft is also a lot more experienced at the software game than Nokia.
Although I also liked Symbian, I have to admit it is not competitive after using Windows Phone for few months. It is probably more flexible, more customizable, maybe more powerful? However, it doesn’t sell. It can’t appeal to people who wants smartphones. Smartphones nowadays must be smart (as standard set by Apple) so that even dumb people can use. (Sorry if this offends anyone).
Keep in mind Nokia needs to stay afloat and make money. It is not in this just to make toys for us. In the short to mid term, personally I think pairing with MS is a good move.
Just my 2 cents.
BTW I mentioned Symbian for completeness although this article is about Meego.
I understand your point of view. Well said.
Thanks. And thanks for even asking Elop about this. It was certainly interesting to know his point of view.
Very well said
Nice to see a reasoned and reasonable comment here for a change!
Btw, I am still fairly likely to buy the N9. But its amazing how difficult it is to find a comment on these fora that is not just black and white but has shades of grey and nuance to it!
¨Windows Phone is already there, has a decent number of apps in the ecosystem (25k, I think?¨
You can say the same about symbian but it have almost the double of apps.
“Although I also liked Symbian, I have to admit it is not competitive after using Windows Phone for few months. It is probably more flexible, more customizable, maybe more powerful? However, it doesn’t sell.¨
Who told you Wp7 is competitive? It doesn´t sell either, I read this in various articles, microsoft is even embarassed to tell numbers. Windows mobile was a failure and WP7 is a failure until now. And certainly symbian still sells more than Wp7. It´s lunacy to replace something that is not doing so well with something that has not proven by any means to be better, with something totally immature, that has a ridiculous market share. It´s as if a notebook company started to build laptops made for linux instead of windows hoping for a bright future. It´s pure delusion.
If they choosed android that is a free, mature operating system with a big market share that maybe would have been a reasonable move. But you can´t bet it all for a mere hope. This is a very childish and stupid thing to do. Wp7 will not succeed just because you like it, that´s not how market works.
Besides symbian was not selling so bad until elop started talking about ¨burning platform¨ and other nonsenses and sabotaging nokia all the time. In q2 2010 nokia smartphone market share was 38.1% with hated n97 and symbian and in q2 2011 market share dropped to 15.2% because of symbyan or elop? the answer is obvious. I just don´t know what the shareholders are thinking about.
¨Microsoft is also a lot more experienced at the software game than Nokia.¨
Microsoft is experienced at making juicy alliances (and generating monopoles) first with ibm and now with nokia. But they really do a good sowtware? Windows mobile was such a failure that they had to rewrite the os from the scratch. Apple invented a windows like operating system before nokia, and mac os and linux are always known to be more stable and fonctional than windows. Microsoft hotmail is decreasing rapidly its market share while gmail is in the top. My microsoft hotmail stopped working with microsoft internet explorer and I had to switch to firefox and never used IE again that now crashes all the time. Microsoft really know how to do good software and products? Think about vista and zune for instance. For me they are leechs that are always taking advantage of others success and expertise.
Yes, Symbian has more apps than WP. So does Android and iOs. It is not how many apps each have, but how fast you can grow the number of apps. I read that MS grew to 10k apps in 9 months. Google android took 11 months. Apple took around 10. This shows to me that MS has a potential.
WP doesn’t sell at the moment. Why? Did you count the number of models available? Few. Samsung and HTC and Lg made a few to test water. They were not very aggressively pushing WP phones, since they already heavily invested on Android. Do you know it is not just making phones, but a lot of efforts and money is needed to make deals wi operators, and advertise or market the phones? That is precisely why Microsoft needed Nokia. They needed a real partner, not one sitting on the fence and leaning towards android like Samsung and HTC. You can see that once te Nokia deal was announced, more companies became interested for fear of losing out. It is not lunacy, as you say, but prudence.
Symbian was not selling bad, but very obviously dropping in marketshare as time goes by. I am not talking about overall markertshare, but smart phones. Nokia is obviously losing out in this critical segment as time passes. The numbers you quoted were also deliberate. Naturally smartphone segment for nokia will fall more after Feb 11. But let’s face the fact that Symbian had lost mindshare AND marketshare way before Elop came along.
Lastly, your rant on Microsoft, shows clearly you have a bone to grind with them. Yes they had hits and misses. But use windows 7 and windows phone to see for yourself that they are quite decent. I had said MS was more experienced in the software busness than Nokia. Was that wrong?
I realized there are groups of people who can never be convinced. You sounded like one. The reason I type all these out, was to let others judge for themselves. End of the day, not everyone is the same. What’s good for me may not be good for you, and I respect that. Each person should try out the OS and judge for himself or herself. I have used windows phone for few months after usi Symbian for years. I have to say, I personally find WP to be a pretty smooth experience compared to Symbian.
If WP7 was to be a success, it would be starting to be already. But the truth is people in general don´t really prefer it over other os´s. Why should they choose Wp7 over ios or android. What´s so unique and innovative in wp7. live tiles: they are just another kind of widgets. fixed, monotonous, monochrome, widgets and even all with same shape and size. It´s an os with almost the same limitations of ios and not any real advantage over android. Then why would I prefer an os with 25000 apps over others with 250000 or 450000?
Mango the great saviour doesn´t even bring flash support.
Besides almost all wp7 that are now in the market are copycats of other successful phones of the same brand. Even nokia first windows phone sea ray is a copycat of the n9. Wp7 ui is not even customizable, android in htc is almost unrecognizable but wp7 in htc is the same as on any other phone.
It´s smooth, fluid, simple, so is ios. And it´s hard not to be so with the big microsoft hardware requirements. Put a 1ghz processor and 1gb of ram in a symbian phone and you´ll see how smooth it is.
The first iphone had very poor specs and a 2mp camera without flash or autofocus but it was a success because they brought a unique never seen before kind of phone. And if elop keeps his mouth shut, n9 could be a success too. Why? because unlike wp7, it brings a unique whole new concept(swype ui, buttonless, gestures, groundbreaking multitasking) not just a cosmetic innovation. See some apps at nokia betalabs like bubbles, sleep screen, 3d world gaze, liveview; see nokia phone designs. I think samsung indeed copied apple designs but nobody can say this about nokia. because nokia and apple are innovative, microsoft is not. They can do ¨decent¨ products but nothing really groundbreaking. The only microsoft product that looks promising is windows 8; the same os working on a tablet, a desktop and a phone is interesting but this just a project.
I think nokia microsoft alliance is only good for microsoft but it will be the beginning of the end for nokia.
And money is not enough to succeed but good ideas that microsoft lacks. they couldn´t deliver a good video calling system and they buy skype. They are only successful in what is almost imposed to consumers like windows and IE but what about bing, bing maps, zune? Anything they do, google or apple have already done it better and they just can´t compete or create something really new and original.
About symbian it just needed a better ui and browser delivered fast instead of changing to another os. And nokia phones needed much more ram and processor speed. With wp7 nokia will simply loose their personality, they will become vulgar and eventually sunk. By the way: edof full focus cameras in symbian^3 was another really bad move and that´s the third reason of nokia market share. And who´s the fault of all this stupid, crazy decisions: elop trojan horse, nokia biggest antagonist.
Thank you for your sensible posts. These Elop devotees get so orgasmic at every mention of him that they need simple logic spelled out for them to shut them up.
The problem is that people are holding WP7 to higher standards than what they would impose on MeeGo or other OS’s.
“brings a unique whole new concept(swype ui, buttonless, gestures, groundbreaking multitasking) not just a cosmetic innovation.”
Please tell me what other OS brings a whole new concept and not just a cosmetic innovation. iOS doesn’t and neither does Android. WP7 is different because it brings a minimalist approach to the UX/UI. In this light, it does bring a unique approach to UI/UX.
“they couldn´t deliver a good video calling system and they buy skype”
What video calling system did Nokia have? Skype! But the video calling feature wasn’t available to it. It IS available to Android devices and Apple has Facetime. So Nokia devices had a front facing camera, but for what?
“Anything they do, google or apple have already done it better and they just can´t compete or create something really new and original.”
What about Nokia w/ Symbian? Did it have their own search engine? No. Did it have it’s own music service? They tried, but it failed. The only good service Nokia provides is its Maps.
“About symbian it just needed a better ui and browser delivered fast instead of changing to another os”
Symbian needed more than just this. Push email is non functional. Social networking still isn’t up to speed. Since you want to bring up Mango’s lack of Flash, Symbian only has a half baked Flash solution in Flash Lite.
If we put all of your above criteria to MeeGo, what makes you think it will be any different than WP7 success/or failure? Outside of the innovative UI, what does MeeGo bring to the table?
Metro, minimalism are design currents, then they are cosmetic things not an unique approaches or new concepts.
Swype ui, buttonless phone, gesture-all touch control are new concepts and approaches. No other os-manufacturer had the idea to replace all the buttons with gestures. Multitask in meego is radically different to any other phone, it´s not a superflous feature is a esential part of the ui.
IOS and iphone were unique when they first appeared, it´s hard to deny that. They started the revolution of touchscreens that was copied all around and now apple is the biggest smartphone seller.
When I mentioned skype i was talking about microsoft not nokia or android. But you don´t need skype to make videocalls, nokia had this feature for years and in android it´s a recent addition.
¨What about Nokia w/ Symbian? Did it have their own search engine? No. Did it have it’s own music service? They tried, but it failed. The only good service Nokia provides is its Maps.¨
nokia has a unreleased betalabs app called universal search that works better than ios one. it searches on the maps, on the web, on the ovistore, on the phone. no other os has fm transmitters, it was the first os with 8 and 12 mp cameras and the best ones in the market, it was the first to have gps, usb on the go, before touchscreens they had the best games with ngage. And flashlite works for most of the videos and flash web pages, i don´t complaint because i don´t get more flash ads. push email works for me. i know social networking it´s important for most people but i don´t really care about it. it´s transforming us in virtual entities without a real life.
can we just say.. wp7 has potential of selling more. but symbian does not have.
infact MeeGo has a lot potential to sell more if marketed properly.
for the time being i think wp7 has the same potential as symbian.
@Corraine…Love your posts – very balanced and you make valid and sensible points. Please continue to visit and post on MyNokiaBlog – the objectivity is needed!
Kudos!
Thank you.
“In the short to mid term, personally I think pairing with MS is a good move.”
What?!? Pairing with Microsoft has been disastrous for Nokia. 5 months and Nokia is making loss, it’s sales has plummeted, it’s credit rating lowered, has it’s market value halved and first proper Nokia WP7 phones that even might have the possibility to sell well are still 7-9 months away. (That first WP7 phone with a Nokia badge that’s probably coming this year, isn’t any different from the rest of WP7s and isn’t even Nokia made!)
He should do everything to acquire revenue now. To make Nokia profitable and get the market increase the share price, so that Nokia won’t be bought. The only way to get money before Q2/2012 is to push N9 really hard. N9 is the only phone that can sell well. Is Flop doing that? No. He’s instead trying to ruin the only chance Nokia has to have a hit phone. He’s making it sure that MeeGo, Nokia’s own and truly innovative OS, won’t become a threat to Microsoft’s WP7. He’s looking after Microsoft’s interests, not Nokia’s.
I agree.
“The disruptions need to start now, not in the future.”
Haven’t they? Nokia looks quite disrupted to me.
Aaugh…it was me who made a jock answering emails…eeeeeeeeeek!lol
Are you aware of how menu thousands of similar emails been created all over the world…so get red on your face now!:-/
Probably the same like Apple: steve@apple.com.
But oh man, if this is suppose to lift morale, then I think it worked on me, troll or not. Meego getting support from Nokia is gonna rile up the whole mobile segment. This will be a buzz alright. Good job Jay!
*facepalm* sorry. Michael, not Jay. Sorry.
No worries mate, easy mistake.
Then probabaly you are ready to get a beauty brick N9.
As I have said since day one this is 2011 you can buy anything from the internet of course you should be able to buy an N9 on Amazon for example.
Agreed, but many people would prefer to buy their device directly from Nokia and not via an online store.
true we will have to wait and see, I would not be surprised if Nokia are actively monitoring where the most amount of buzz is being generated around the world and then going for that.
Well at least I hope so.
Also, just releasing it here in the US would do close to nothing..here you just have to have carrier support, and Nokia is – understandably – probably putting 100% of its current effort to getting carriers to take their WP phones on. The non-carrier phones will end up on Amazon etc. anyway.
It was close though.. AT&T was impressed by Nokia’s Harmmattan/Meego efforts back in early/mid 2010 and the Lankku (N9) prototypes.. pity Nokia could not deliver and have it ready about a year ago/year and half ago as it should (and perhaps even could have) been. The Intel partnership and Nokia’s own internal slowness made sure that never happened. Then again, the UI at that point was probably somewhat/quite different what we see in the N9 today.
It will be interesting to see if carriers will support Nokia’s Wp7 efforts, seems a far stretched at the moment.
they have no choice. they wan’t WP to suceed. They wan’t competition.
I would imagine that they would won’t to offer more choice, assuming building the support and other overheads are not too high. Also, and I have not thought this through, it might be that WP provides a bit more opportunity for carrier customization and value add and services than Android and iOS do. I know, likely sucks for us customers, but what do carriers care, as long as they get the (and more) money!
@John…WP7 is already carried on various devices (albeit only 6) on the 4 carriers in the U.S. The carriers are already familiar with WP, so the path has been paved for Nokia’s entry. Personally, I think that AT&T will be first to get them especially if ATT is still going to be the ‘premier’ partner for WP; I think I read somewhere that Nokia was in talks with Verizon regarding the whole ‘CDMA’ thingy
It’s actually on 6 carriers. You forgot US Cellular and Cellular South both have the HTC 7 Pro which is really a Sprint Arrive just with a different name.
I heard first hand accounts that Apple treats operators very badly. They definitely want some other mobile OS to succeed or at least bring some balance.
Meego will be supported it just won’t be the no.1 runner OS like WP7 will be. Meego is just gonna be a future disruption. I’m pretty positive once they get the ecosystem going for Meego you will see some more Meego devices coming soon.
C’mon! Stephen Elop has told us so many times his way of thinking – that this isn’t anymore about battle of devices, that now it’s about war of ecosystems. So if you think it in that way, the N9 is a great device whit Harmattan inside BUT Elop/Nokia doesn’t see that MeeGo or Harmattan could survive in the war of ecosystems…
And that means, for example, that cash register manufactures aren’t going to build in the future cash registers that will accept paying whit Harmattan OS devices, they are interested that people whit Android and iOS devices can pay whit their phones.. And I think that smart phones will in the future more and more connect to other devices/machines.
Now days Window’s rules in computers, so most cash registers(in Finland at least) are working whit Microsoft’s software(Windows). They are easy to connect to Windows working PC and so on.
Tablets and smart phones are taking in some way place of PC:s. Android is becoming a very strong ecosystem in tablets(as it is already in smart phones). It is very very important to Microsoft that tablet’s and smart phones will run whit windows. If android will have as monopolistic market share in smart phones and tablets as Microsoft Windows has in computers, computers will probably in the future run whit android and Microsoft ecosystem will slovly fall.
Windows Phone isn’t a small side business for Microsoft because it can save or ruin Microsoft’s future. Windows 8 has to be good OS for tablet or then Microsoft’s future as a tablet OS provider will not look good.
Ok, ok. My own opinnion is still that it was completely stupid to say that N9 is the first and last MeeGo device. Elop could had said that “lets see how it sells”. If N9 sells well, I can’t see a reason why not to do some few new models whit MeeGo whit like device per year speed. MeeGo devices could be in the high end and WP devices in wide price range…
That’s the problem, stupid. The pc world is filled with M$. Now you want the same scenario on mobile?
Aah you like more that Google gets that position?
If WP can’t compete whit Android, Google will be a new M$ of mobiles
No, we want Meego.
If I were to translate what Elop wants to tell regarding the future of MeeGo, he explains that:
MeeGo is like an iOS. It is positioned only in that place (high end) with nowhere to be reduced to middle class. With Windows Phone 7, Nokia can make it more affordable.
[quote]we determined that the MeeGo effort could not quickly enough deliver us a range of solutions across price points[/quote]
COULD NOT QUICKLY DELIVER…..RANGE OF PRICE POINTS.
I dont know what’s wrong? People will be happy with that way. After all, they want everyone else feel the same tech in all of possible people buying their phone.
Usual official blah blah talk.
> we determined that the MeeGo effort could not quickly enough
> deliver us a range of solutions across price points, radio
> technologies, etc. for us to effectively compete, so we had
> to make an alternative decision.
Reads like this:
Meego means investing in future, but who cares about years to come? We care about short range profit from MS cash offered for pushing their half dead platform. Who knows if we’ll even work in Nokia in years to come, quick cash however is something we can sense now, since MS is scared of Meego and is willing to pay us billions not to help it grow.
I don’t understand why the ecosystem is so big word at the moment. If phone has great basic functions as N9 seems to have, why i would need those 100k+ farting applications. I don’t understand, at all. How many of you have more than 20 applications on your smartphone?. How many of you uses all of those applications. And think about this, just about all of us are smartphone geeks, how this all correlates to normal users. How many applications they need?.
I think that whole ecosystem thingy is blown out of proportion.
Cheers
It isn’t about apps.. I think ecosystem is about much larger picture. When customers and employees are starting to use Android smart phones and tablets as their computers, Android ecosystem will(slowly, first) spread like Windows did in the past. That is a big threat for Microsoft.
And I think that ecosystem is so big word for the moment because smart phones are taking a whole different place in our lives. I for example use much more web(news, FB, twitter) than make calls or send sms with my N8.
And the ecosystem isn’t about smart phones only, it’s about tablets and futures computers that will join some of the ecosystems.
And Nokia has to choose its side.. Now it’s on the same side as one of the mightiest software companies of the World.
The talk about ecosystems is just market talk. It’s another fancy word taken in order to sell more smartphones.
Here’s what ecosystem really is:
“An ecosystem is a biological environment consisting of all the organisms living in a particular area, as well as all the nonliving (abiotic), physical components of the environment with which the organisms interact, such as air, soil, water and sunlight.”
Elop and MS is really cunning by the way…
That Feb. 11 fiasco was not just to announce what platform Nokia would be adopting in the future, or as others would say, to sabotage sales of symbian and halt Nokia development of Meego, it has other motives aside from that. That’s why they even held a public event and invited a lot of press; that Feb. 11 announcement is also for other mobile phone makers,.. Elop was telling them that Nokia will sell Millions of WP7 devices so they (other manufacturers) should make WP7 phones as well to ride the bandwagon (just like what happened to Android where suddenly almost all manufacturers are selling them).. Elop kept saying “it’s not a battle of devices but a war of ecosystems”, which is a desperate call for other manufacturers to join the WP ecosystem that Nokia is making with the help of MS… Elop was hoping that they could make that same “Android effect”..
In addition to this is that “Sea Ray controlled leak” (which surprisingly the video does not seem to come from a video camera from the audience, it looks really professional, instead that leak seems to come from Nokia’s very own video, look at that part where the phone is demoed on that table with the mounted camera on top, it does not look like it was filmed by someone from the audience, or are you telling me that someone hacked into Nokia’s archives and copied that sea ray demo).. I dare you to watch that vid again and tell me that it was filmed by one of the audiences.. That leak is a challenge to other manufacturers that they should start re-making their WP devices…
And what do we have here, looks like samsung is now releasing a SGS II specced phone running WP7, and other manufacturers seem to re-release WP7 as well, I think a part of it is that they are intimidated by Nokia’s WP7 commitment, but behind all this, MS could have had a lengthy talk with other manufacturers for a while now, convincing them to adopt WP7, .. Things like their 25 thousand app milestone, increased international availability of WP Marketpalce, that multi million dollar marketing strategy, alleged high satisfaction rate from customers from supposed independent surveys, developer suport, and many more, MS had been continuously outspoken and loud about their “supposed achievements”, but very shy in releasing phone sales number…
Let’s face it, MS will do anything to make their product a success, be it buying other companies (Skype), buying intellectual properties from bankrupt companies (Nortel patents), suing other companies (should I even enumerate), and even slipping one of their men into other companies, and making them CEO (Nokia).. Microsoft has loads of money in their pockets, would you think that they would really put all their hopes into Nokia (like Nokia putting all their hopes on WP)?? Nokia is just a stepping stone to their market domination, and with a huge but sadly dying and seemingly desperate company such as Nokia, MS is trying to start their own “Android banwagon”, But this time it will be “WP bandwagon”… Sadly the only option for Nokia now is to survive by selling WP, if it goes the other way and some company outshines them (remember, SGS II dual core WP7 would sound cool to the ears of the consumers especially gullible Americans), and they report another multi million dollar profit loss, then that’s the end… All you WP supporters out there who are also Nokia fans, when the time comes that other manufacturers release their high specced WP devices as answer to the Sea Ray, and by miracle these devices sell millions and make WP one of the top 3 platforms, MS would not really care if Nokia sells WP7 anymore, as the bandwagon has already started, ..
Luckily if Nokia will be the lead in the “WP bandwagon” (just like samsung with android) then Nokia would survive, but if not, then MS would just buy you including your patents and using that as ammunition to sue other companies, bye bye Nokia…
I think Nokia (and Elop) knows Microsofts “really big plan”. There might be something big hidden behind the words ecosystem and radiotechnology. Wifi over TV spectrum and Microsofts Skype purchase could be something to think about.
Nokia wants to be market leader, even if that means they have to create new market.
WP7 is the best OS in the world. In 2 years there won’t be any competition left since MS and Nokia have totally destroyed everything.
I’d write him, but I’m sure they use a profanity filter.
Nokia fanboys are the worse .. what about giving the man the chance to come up with his device.. and if it deosn’t sell you can bash him all you want..
Aside all the fanboyism there are tons of people out there who would buy a phone which works without thinking about what the name of the OS ..
People seem to forget he was brought on for a reason.. You think the Finnish were happy bringing on a Non Finnish person to head Nokia? If everything was all well and rosy there would have been no need to bring him on.. Nokia is dying give him the chance to fix it the way he sees fit..if it doesn’t work then we can all join hands and bash the hell out of him. !!
Yeah, give him a chance to spread M$ monopoly on mobile.
Unfortunately for you the shareholders of Nokia.. I mean those who actually owe the company gave him their backing to manage the company.. who are you again?
I love symbian and belle version is all I need. Symbian is still a really good system but it did not get proper support and developement. Why waste time for WP7?
There are new Symbian devices still coming out, and I think Nokia committed to support Symbian for years to come. Personally I think it boils down to personal preference. If you prefer Symbian and Belle, you could still continue to use it. I am sure after belle, there will still be more to come.
Samsung develops 3 os alongside each other : android, wp, bada. Why can’t nokia do symbian, meego and wp simultaneously, I thought they had like 100,000 staffs
Big difference. Nada is brand new in-house development. Android and WP does not require too much of samsung’s effort to maintain or even develop.
Nokia is trying to do too many things. Symbian has multiple versions lead to fragmentation. Then there is also s40 on low end which is like bada, and then a totally new meego. What they have now is harmattan which is maemo. So you see, a lot more software and versions to maintain, support and develop. Each software would require a lot of money to do these, besides the cost incurred to push out the updates to end consumers, market the new software, engage the developers etc. Keep in mind, the cost is not just a one time thing, or just in-house.
Many staff = more overhead and cost. Since Nokia is not doing as well as before, it needs to cut down these cost.
Sorry, typo. *bada
yes.
I’m telling you all now. App excitement is waning. I can literally feel it in the air. people were once excited about the sheer volume of apps available and would spend free time simply searching through this rubbish. most people are bored with it and within twelve months no one will care whether an ecosystem has 1,000 or one million apps. I believe ios will fail within a few years. Android with a less closed system will probably dominate and possibly meego(if not killed) will also be up there.
The way it is written is like when Stephen talked… I would assume it’s him personally.
Jay can you ask him, if there will be more Meego headsets in future or not?
Interesting. His mention of slowness with radio technologies isn’t one I had considered. I wonder if Elop discovered that LTE support in Meego’s codebase would be a large and daunting task.
“Is it really the Nokia CEO or just a troll?”
Yes, you send a mail to a nokia.com mail id and get a reply and you call the person a troll? You are using the term too liberally ( I am not sure if you even know the meaning anymore. Just like using the word “gay” these days) and by the original meaning of it, it is you that is the troll.
I bothered to comment only because this blog is good, and Jay has done good work.
Okay I am a bit late on this thread but wanted to comment anyway.
First I am pleased that SE has decided answer questions.
I respect the fact that he has a very very difficult job to do and hope that he is not put off by the “passion” shown on this site and makes further appearances.
Read this and other articles (i.e. Bloomberg) I understand where he is coming from.
I agree that the iPhone has created a vacuum (currently being filled by Google’s Android) but worry that he is preparing his troops for an outdated battle.
I believe that the vacuum will get very small and very hot once Apple decides the lower the price ceiling with new iPhone products. They have done this before in the digital music market and have great economies of scale. Suppliers will give them large discounts, distributors are falling over themselves and the operators are living in a climate of fear.
I am afraid by the time Nokia’s WP7 product comes to the market it would be over.
The biggest mistake Apple’s competitors (including Microsoft) have made was not to provide innovation that consumers want. On the most part their products are evolutional steps forward which now rely on differences using expensive hardware (bigger screens, faster processor, more memory etc). Others have come up with a abstract system that is further away from how consumers use their phone (not an easy five minute sale in a phone shop).
Think how successful the Wii Console was with a clear innovation difference to the XBox and PS3.
Customers don’t buy phones based on echo systems. On the most part they walk into a store and ask for the brand that they see as “cool”. And currently that is Apple. Otherwise they ask for a quick demo. If they connect to the design they buy. If they have to learn a new abstract system, that sounds like hard work, they move on.
With reports that 1/3 of new customers will buy an iPhone 5 without even knowing what it is says it all. People are guessing how the design will be and know how the iPhone works. No detail abstraction just technology making things easy.
I believe that the N9 has/had potential to be Nokia’s cool device. It’s UI follow’s Apples line of using technology to make it easy to use the phone. I know it sounds simple to do but believe me it’s not.
I am afraid that Nokia WP7.5 phone will be lost in the noise as one of many that did not learn this lesson.
And as for eco systems Microsoft will need a WP8 to allow for seamless integration between phone / tablet and PC’s. The big problem here is that once announced it will kill the WP7.5 market and further anger any WP customer left with another dead WP platform.
I may be wrong. . Big time.
SE maybe right.
But I think that the odds are very much against him.