Marko Ahtisaari “wants to out-design Apple”
Photo by nomadig via Wired
Over at Wired, they have posted up a great post detailing Marko Ahtisaari’s desire to “out-design Apple”. That is a pretty bold statement, seeing as Apple are consider the ‘leaders’ in design. Ahtisaari talks about the new design style being “post-industrial”.
He mentions that WP’s Live Tiles are “another take on completely solving all the things that smartphones need to do”. Also bringing back the analogy about the auto-industry, going through a phase using “tillers, rudders” before settling on the steering wheel. Ahtisaari reportedly dubs WP’s tiles and the Fabula design as “a one-to-one mapping.”
There are plenty of insights to be read in the post, and I don’t think I could do justice replicating it here, so I suggest you take a few minutes, and give it the once-over.
http://www.wired.com/business/2012/09/nokias-visionary-wants-to-out-design-apple/
Source: Wired
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 N9 & Lumia 820, with other Nokia devices in my posession. Get in touch on Twitter via @MFaroTusino, Google Plus or even simply drop me an email at mike.mnb[at]outlook.com or tips[at]mynokiablog.comSubscribe
If you enjoyed this article, subscribe to receive more just like it.
tiles is not your nokia work. And it is ugly,
Someday you will try a Windows phone so you can see how to use it. Your Android or Apple is ugly with its pages of icons covering the pictures or blank wallpaper. Windows flows with pictures, videos, multiple sized tiles all on one start screen. Speed, flow, beauty is all Windows. Android, Apple is like..”what,what,where,where??”
+1
To each his own, I personally like both, I guess but I’m just more into “ugly with its pages of icons covering the pictures or blank wallpaper” as I actually know how to organize stuff and like to have control over every aspect of the phone
PS: I’m not in anyway saying the Windows Phone OS sucks, I just prefer something more than it
+1
But past the start screen, it’s a mess.
And in any case, I see your start screen and raise you a Swipe UI which Ahtisaari also loved at one point before his bosses took his UX pencils away.
They already did!!!
Windows Phone is different, but just as ugly, if not uglier, than Android and iPhone. Its only more confusing.
N9 was step ahead. It was nifty and practical. Intuitive, and what new there is, its for practical reasons, not just for it to be “new”.
Of course Elop killed it, so I understand the challenge is back.
Put a decent camera in next one.. If not 41mp, then at least 21mp..8mp is pathetic for a flagship.
Put a sock in it, MP isn’t what matters. Even some very good DSLR’s don’t have more than 12MP. The lens and the software is far more important than the MP count of the sensor.
‘All talk but not trousers’
‘Talk the walk, but one should walk the talk’
Either one of those feels like it’s suited for Ahtisaari. So far the only real good design from Nokia is the N9/800 and it derivatives. (not counting the 900, that is a poor implementation of the design IMHO)
There is a great potential Nokia can outdesign Apple, but they need more than just the N9/L800 design language and some funky colors to do so.
What about the E7 design and the C7 for that matter, both very attractive designs.
I agree the N9/L800 is the best so far. In white, for real appeal.
Personally both the C7 and E7 never really appealed to me. They are nice, mind you, but lack a certain sense of evoking desire.
The C7 is impaired by the call end keys and the E7 is far too bulky with the keyboard. Although I did like the E7 more than the N8, the E7 seemed like a more refined N8.
The best Nokia design must be the N9, apart from the stupidly placed front facing camera. The lack of buttons makes it just a little better looking than the 800 and it is more balanced because of the screen being centred.
n9 has been the only thing that Nokia did well . is the phone with more innovations since smartphones surfaced, and has it all software , hardware camera . these WP 8 remind me n8 it’s just a camera phone . hopefully have solved its multitasking software errors bluethoot notifications that really what matters is not only the camera.
lumia fans now must thank the N9 was the role model of lumia and remember that all these new tecnoligias would be designed to n9 and meego . Now , fans of the lumia say thanks to n9 , because without it there would not have lumias today.
P.S. the tiles are the most horrendous I have ever seen in my life in a smartphone
Yes the Lumia 800 design was perfect for me, why they change an award winning design for this tacky 820 design?? And the 920 is just too big and thin, too much flex – cracked screens etc. Now looking elsewhere for my windows 8 phone ;(
yep 800 was light years ahead design wise, made everything else look antiquated..so wont be updating this time as the 820 looks tacky and cheap and 920 is just too big….too slim, not built for comfort like the 800 was.
The “leaders in design” is a tag given usually from Apple’s paid websites. ZDnet, Engaget,etc. The key is to look at who owns the media and that takes some research in itself. It reveils itself to be located near Washington so our wonderful congressmen and women can take advantage of the pump or dump by leading the sheepe off the cliff. If you tell people to buy a rock long enough, soon you have a pet rock. The iphone looks like my 8 year old ipod. The Nokia 920 and 820 are hot. The old iphone design “not so much”.
Well, at least when looking at the iPhone 5 should not be so hard to do.
its a pity that apple has not been able to take the air design Language to more of its devices. a lot of the apple designs seem to have stick to the same basic concept for years now.
Over 8 old,old years.
+1 I think the iphone design is deeply dated unfurtunatly in not a huge fan of the glossy new L920… N9 was singular form meets funtion perfection all screen UI.
Think WP should find a way to get rid of the front butons they bring unecessary cluter to what could be a complete clean balanced full with UI
To me its abit like having to choose between a Jaguar E and Jaguar S Type.
Both ate gorgeous to me.
Well, there was this slide in one of MS presentations on WP that implied that they are at least considering buttonless concepts. So who knows maybe down the line they will go there.
For the time being I don’t find the keys a big problem and actually quite handy at times. I do hope they would consider the back arrow behavior – it is at the beginning slightly confusing.
Not entirly sure about that, a buttonless design might not appeal to the masses. 1 physical button can give some reassurence of control or something.
The 3 buttons now present on WP are too much for me as well. Especially the search one, it is pointless to me. A single homebutton design a la iPhone would be best IMHO.
worse part is that they are capacitive so in reality they are using exactly the same sensor as the entire screen, they could just as well be part of the UI.
may apps don’t need them at all so they could use that extra space
Exactly!!
I actually like that Apple have stuck with their design. It makes them almost timeless objects rather than being blown by the winds of fashion or just changing something for change sake.
You can buy a MacBook Air and know that in 4-5 years time it’ll still look fresh.
The fact they’re doing that with their iOS devices too is great. Good design is timeless.
name a phone the xphone then you will see it sell,doznt wat desighn nokia comes up with,its all in the name of the device!!!!!
No, it is not. But keep trying to convince us!
Sir, I have to hand it to you for persistence!
Ahtisaari has during the last 2 years at least 10 times talked about this steering wheel thing and mobile phones compared to the car industry. Exactly the same every single interview. Either the guy has very bad fantasy or then he doesnt think that people are seing him in different interviews. Either or, its obviously just talking. Nothing seems to really have changed in the way they work. I also believed that they would have learned something from the previous presentation, but no. Kevin Shields and Jo Harlow still on stage without even preparing beforehand and making sure that things work smoothly. “Rescue me Stephen”. It should be “Fire me Stephen”.
I know. The laptop went to sleep.. For Christ’s sakes!
and can you please speak a little slower, Jo? 
Ahtisaari is like a jester to me. Trying to be like some Jonathan Ive-esque guy (Not saying Ive is that great a designer thiugh) and yet saying the same age old line/ideas over and over again.
No, Ahtisaari can be sacked for all I care, they would still have Skillman there right? Haven’t heard a peep from that guy. Or has he also left with the whole MeeGo related people?
Skillman has been awfully quiet lately and he’s posting unrelated things on Twitter… He’s either looking for better opportunities, or has already found one but keeps quiet due to contractual obligations, but his absence from main Nokia events and announcements is obvious.
Yeah, although he has never really been present at any Nokia event. The only thing that substantiates his employment by Nokia is the fact that there was news of him going there. Otherwise there is not a single thing that would point to Skillman being employed by Nokia.
Guess he wants to go to some more greener pastures that better suit him, a more opensource approach. After all that is where he has been active in most of the time.
IIRC, Myriam from Engadget interviewed him on the last NWC (or was it at CES?) and in those 10-15 minutes he explained more about the design language and the devices in general than all those buffoons, including the Ballmerian Kevin ‘Awesome’ Shield’s presentation.
Actually, just checked, he talked at WP Developer Summit a couple of months ago, and Myriam managed to get pull him on the side for another interview – http://www.engadget.com/2012/06/20/the-engadget-interview-nokias-kevin-shields-talks-windows-phon/ . Nothing has been seen from him lately, I guess he’s indeed on the lookout for more greener pastures. He just doesn’t fit the profile of the new Nokia and he’s been less and less enthusiastic whenever he was presenting what ‘new’ things Nokia is bringing.
Skillman is a different breed than, say Joe Belfiore – he genuinely gets excited about the tech and doesn’t try to play a Microsoft version of a hipster while dancing the tune they tell him to. Such mind just doesn’t work in the constricted Microsoft environment, and Skillman can enjoy his excitement about hardware tech in other companies as well. So, I guess you’re right, the open source waters are more suitable for him. If Jolla could snatch him, it would add quite some strength to their team, but I doubt that Skillman would move to a such risky position.
@incognito
Need your input, Janne’s trying to undermine Harmattan & MeeGo’s legacy, yet again:
http://mynokiablog.com/2012/09/06/nokias-damian-dinning-says-nokia-lumia-920-pictures-are-all-real/comment-page-1/#comment-649758
Maybe Skillman’s headed to Jolla? LOL highly doubtful but one can dream.
I’m really worried Jolla’s going fail abysmally when they do their reveal sometime this yr.
The odds are simply too massively against them….
I’m sure they have the engineering skill but will they have the style?
I really hope they learn from the N9 and give us a successor to that instead of an N900 successor or something that resembles Android.
Good point, but more important to me is that the entire tech side is very competent, hw/sw…
BQ & design/aesthetic can be fairly mediocre 1st time round, but ideally they hit that one out of the park too.
SW doesn’t have to be feature-packed OOTB, but it’s has to be rock-solid, highly usable, snappy/fluid, & very malleable/extensible.
HW has to go toe-to-toe with the very best at the time, but it’s okay if the camera tech doesn’t match some of the big guys just yet.
P.S. Never understood the fascination with Ahtisaari, to me he completely lacks charisma and I always wonder whether he’s stoned or not. Apart from being the design EVP in Nokia nothing really iconic was his handywork, even the N9 was designed by a separate stray team that got under his wing only when the concept was completely finished.
+100
+1
and the where is this awesome n9 design team now?
I guess not anymore in the “where” company:-)
This. Definitly this.
The stoned remark is golden, he seems so disconnected from it all. And indeed what has really been his work?
P.P.S. Jo Harlow and Kevin Shields should not be allowed on stage. Ever. Elop as well, but since he’s the CEO he must be, the aforementioned two do not.
Ahtisaari likes to talk about design. To me he seems to be a quite good speaker so why doesn’t he go up to the stage. The guy who’s so passionate about his work should talk about it.
I bet he could outperform Harlow and Shields (who isn’t THAT bad) with ease.
But seriously. Could we get someone else to replace Harlow (atleast) on stage?
And in my honest opinion Marko Ahtisaari did one of the best Nokia presentations with N9.
+1
Yeahh.. Ahtisaari puts me to sleep a bit too with his overuse of theatrical, dramatic pauses and his cow eyes and sheepish “I am so zen and embrace you all with open arms” smiles..
Great English though, so as far as Finns go he is one of the best presenters at Nokia.
Might be true, but I would still like to see him on stage than shields or harlow. As a evp of design he has the position to do so.
Yesterday’s presentation was too much. Shields and Harlow have had too many chances to improve. I’m not sure if it’s too late to have better people to do this job.
Ugh, Harlow is so misplaced in those presentations. She probably does a fine job inside Nokia, but as a speaker she is as passionate about products as a sheepfarmer is about cows.
MarKo is very good, but he also forget that apple does not only design the iphone. but the leading industry macbook air and macbook pro.
Perhaps Nokia should first out-present Apple, with no one else but Marko as the chief presenter, as he seems to be doing a better job at it than McDowell or Harlow.
That was exactly what I thought yesterday! They should not let Jo Harlow or Kevin Shields on stage ever again! Jo was so boring but Kevin was just pathetic. Begging for the demos to work and “Rescue me Stephen”. Seriously, he should be fired or at least never let on stage again.
+1000
apples design is not practical, glass front and back !! (need a bumper just to protect it)
metal strip that causes signal lose !! (ur holding it wrong)
the only good thing about apple was its os, now even that is old and copied with android,
no need to beat apple, it has beaten itself … downwards.
nokia is the only real alternative, its designs are first class and the technology is amazing,
Peoplp need to remember that apple only makes one flagship each time so its easy for them to just update the old design.
But if they started making lower end phones they would choke on the design front i mean why havent they changed their flagships? Maybe they are scared to experiment with new designs.
Now marko i please hope you guys have something better in store for the future. I mean the n9 design is getting old and especially that other people are seeing nokia as the ones with the best designs.
So please give us better designed phones. And wher is the concept he was talking about of they want people to stop looking down at there phones?
Apple tends to just use the previous generation iPhone as the ‘low-end’ model but you only have to look at the iPod lone to realise they can and do scale their design well.
The thing is though, Apple just aren’t interested in the low-end generally. Why would they be when they’re raking in cash by the supertanker load capturing most of the high end market for phones, tablets, and laptops.
They out-designed apple with the N8 and N9/Lumias in my opinion
Thats what I think too. Nokia dont seem convinced that they did for some reason.
I have no doubt Nokia can out design Apple in the hardware front. They probably already did. What the can’t do is the UI. It is all Microsoft from now on. We all heard it before that they can do whatever they want to the windows phone OS but it is unlikely that they would, nor will Elop/Balmer will allow it. Not when MS is heavily promoting Metro (or what ever it is called now).
Another thing Nokia needs to do is out-show/out-talk apple in their announcements. They failed to accent most of their phone’s capabilities and advantages regardless of whatever or how small it is. Plus the fake videos and pictures do not help.
I am quite impressed with the latest Lumia releases but will wait till the full OS functions till I am completely convinced it is for me. They should add more things (may it be specs or software) after the new iphone announcements shoot the public with “revolutionary” increments to counter since these Lumias won’t be out at least 2 months anyway.
ahtisaari’s hardware design = yes
wp os = noo
posted from my Xperia phone
Out desing Apple? Even Samdung does it with their shitty plastic crap.