Kiitos, Nokia, and Nokia fans. Love, MyNokiaBlog.com

This morning, half asleep wishing I could stay in bed for a few more minutes, I checked my emails as usual to see if there were any interesting tips that I could write about before heading off to hospital to see more babies being delivered. Ali’s post caught my eye as I thought he was writing about some peeves he had with MS’s progress with Windows Phone. As I read on, it didn’t make sense to me so I looked back at previous emails.

What’s going on here? Have I instead slept so long that it was now April?

I didn’t put my initial thoughts to writing. I shared them over twitter as I knew I’d get caught up and miss my bus. As a long time Nokia fan, I’ve got Obsessive Nokia Disorder at the best of times, let alone on news as big as the one that landed today. In the fleeting moments that I’d have a gap not to think about forceps, women in labour and cute babies, today’s news circled in my head.

To be honest with you, I haven’t really looked into the details. But I’ve got the gist of it and I’m feeling real sad about it. MS buying Nokia’s handset division? What was all that about?

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/news/press/2013/Sep13/09-02AnnouncementPR.aspx

You could say you expected that the moment Elop became CEO, some perhaps a little later when we went with WP. Nokia struggled, but slowly started making some really great gains again. Last night, I went to bed writing about Nokia’s strong growth in the EU5 and how Nokia’s designs were somehow influencing Apple. This on top of weeks and weeks of profound admiration for the 1020’s camera by the media. It felt like Nokia were getting back into the game.

So how could I be waking up to the news that after all that, they’ve decided to throw it all in and let MS take control?

Other things that are concerning me.

• The price. 7.2 Billion dollars. You could buy skype and have almost a billion in change. Skype. The numbers are even smaller when you consider in parts what was bought and in euros. EUR 3.79 billion for devices and services, 1.65 billion for a 10 year licence on patents. You what?
• The Nokia brand name. It doesn’t appear like MS is going to continue with this, despite Elop being the new EVP of the Nokia devices and services segment. At least that’s how I’m understanding it so far. MS get to have the Lumia brand, and the Asha brand. MS will also  license the “Nokia brand for use with current Nokia mobile phone products.”
• What happens now to the Nokians (nok staff)

Elop is most certainly going to be the new CEO of MS. MS is said to elect a CEO from within the company. MS is said to be changing to a devices and services company. Who has just returned to the company as EVP of devices and services? Those are all things that were also predicted by some.

• How will the other manufacturers react? It was thought that the purchase of moto would harm Android but that hasn’t really had much negative effect. But then again, the other manufacturers don’t have other legitimate OS options at the time.
• Where does MyNokiaBlog go?

When I started this blog in 2007 as a place to store the excessive rambles that did not fit in the forums, I did not expect that 6 years later it would have garnered YOU, the Nokia community of fans, writers, tippers, commenters, and even Nokia staff that come and join the conversation now and again. Who would have thought that I could get to see places around the world and meet so many amazing Nokia fans and Nokia peeps and see the latest and greatest newly announced Nokia devices (some in secret, months before announcement). I don’t know about you, but it’s been a privilege having such an amazing hobby that I can share with so many awesome people like you. I love reading your comments and conversations – we welcome all perspectives and it’s been great learning from everyone.

Time and time again, I get asked why I do this. Because I love Nokia. From a kid admiring my aunt’s Nokia phones to an adult showing my nieces and nephews the cool phones I have of my own, Nokia has always had a special place in my geeky heart. They stood for being bold, for pushing boundaries, for aiming for the best experiences, for having so much potential, for being open with their community, for being pioneers, for being so lovable. For many fans, their first ever phone was a Nokia, and it was a Nokia for a reason because Nokia was the best choice.

It hasn’t always been an easy ride. Long time readers would know we’ve had many rants at the past, scolding Nokia for what seemed to us ‘outsiders’ as obvious mistakes, be it from the marketing side or strange product compromises. If we see something we’re not happy with at Nokia, as fans, we’ll openly moan about it and suggest where to improve from there. We do it because we care. We want Nokia to keep striving to be better and do better and because we know they have the potential to do so (having been so great in the past and still showing much signs of having that capacity to be even better in the future) we push, and push and push. Most recently it seemed things were clicking into place, with the 1020 keynote being extremely well executed and well received, the 1020 being unanimously loved by the media and as aformentioned, Lumia sales seemingly catching on.

But the rug seems to have been pulled from under us. Where is Nokia going to go now?

Well Ali has detailed that already. http://mynokiablog.com/2013/09/03/editorial-where-does-nokia-and-a-nokia-fan-go-from-here/ Nokia’s had a long history of change and this is yet another chapter in that.

I’m still sharing my thoughts as I owe it to you guys to voice my side.

There’s still more to Nokia than devices and services. Although phones is why we loved Nokia, there’s still HERE Maps and NSN. Some of you might care about that, some not. At least for now, that part of Nokia is said to be more stable.

What about the Nokia side that’s going off to MS? Well, Nokia brand or not, I feel like the spirit of Nokia is still there. Just like how we followed ex Nokians going forth into other businesses like Jolla, Nokia, for me isn’t truly gone.

Goddammit I’m holding onto you and not letting you go, whether you like it or not, Nokia!

Where will MyNokiaBlog go?

I will keep writing about anything remotely related to Nokia, time, uni and enjoyment permitting and if the other writers wish to do so, they can too. Kudos to those who had mentioned before that we should have changed our names to MyWPBlog/MyMicrosoftBlog and the likes. You were just giving advice with the extreme power of hindsight eh?

Haha. In all seriousness, for now, we’re sticking with MyNokiaBlog.com

My Nokia Blog is you guys. The community. Connecting people. We will be here as long as you guys are.

For the Nokia fans that still love Nokia, perhaps you’d like to volunteer to help keep the community side active with Nokia related news? Email me (jay@mynokiablog.com) to see what we can sort out.

There’s so much more to consider, so many more things to think about.

http://mynokiablog.com/2013/07/30/why-we-love-nokia-explained-in-a-205-minute-video/

Thankfully, I can embrace my mountain of work to keep these thoughts aside for now. Hopefully it’ll give me even more time to clear my mind.

Till next time. Thanks guys!

Tags: featured

Category: Nokia