Stephen Elop denies being Trojan Horse, answers Angry and emotional comments from Nokia fans.

According to TheGuardian, Stephen Elop has denied conspiracy accusations of being a ‘Trojan Horse’ planted by Microsoft to take Nokia from within.

Despite the outward appearance and what is seemingly the coming true of ‘the Elop effect’  Stephen Elop said,

“I have only ever worked on behalf of and for the benefit of Nokia shareholders while at Nokia”

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/apr/29/stephen-elop-microsoft-nokia

The answers appear to be from the NokConv Ask Me Anything:

http://conversations.nokia.com/2014/04/28/conversations-live-ask-anything-stephen-elop/

Going further into this, when asked, “Selling Nokia rendered you well, do you feel you gave your everything as the CEO? Any regrets?”

During a speech I gave today to the gathered employees of Nokia, errr, Microsoft, I said that the last few years had been both the most challenging and rewarding of my career. Like virtually everyone at Nokia, we worked harder and committed more of ourselves to this mission than anything before. Now, we have the opportunity to take it to the next level within the context of MSFT.

More angry questions answered, “You’re so cool killed Nokia …Thanks to you, Meego, Symbian, Meltemi buried …Once you get it all comes back to haunt”

Thanks, I know that there is a lot of emotion around some of the hard decisions that we had to make. Back in late 2010 and 2011, we carefully assessed the state of the internal Nokia operating system efforts. Unfortunately, we could not see a way that Symbian could be brought to a competitive level with, for example, the iPhone that had shipped THREE years earlier! And the Meego effort was significantly delayed and did not have the promise of a broad enough portfolio soon enough. We had to make a forceful decision to give Nokia the chance to compete again.

Vivi was the one who asked the Trojan Horse question, ‘Hi Stephen, you have bashed very harshly with your efforts to take Nokia to Microsoft, have been awarded as Trojan in online discussions and comments. Do you take any effect of all this on your work/decision?’

As a result of the work that we have done, we have transformed Nokia into a stronger company with NSN, HERE and Advanced Technologies. At the same time, our Devices and Services business has a new opportunity within a stronger Microsoft. As for the Trojan horse thing, i have only ever worked on behalf of and for the benefit of Nokia shareholders while at Nokia. Additionally, all fundamental business and strategy decisions were made with the support and approval of the Nokia board of directors, of which I was a member.

Comment on the Burning Platform memo again, “Mr Elope, Dont you think the decision of jumping the burning platform was significantly delayed by Nokia? Do you think MSFT will be in the state of competing Android any time soon?”

It’s hard to comment on what came before, but I do know that the “burning platform” galvanized the mindset of thousands of employees with the recognition that we faced a critical situation. We brought urgency into the organization and within 6 months we produced our first two Windows Phone devices. This was faster than we had ever gone before and marked the beginning of our cultural change.

As for other sides of the AMA, Elop’s favourite Pizza? “prosciutto ham, mushrooms, green peppers and tomatoes.”

Jade says the Microsoft Social Media team isn’t as good as the Nokia one. Nokia Connects sent us a postcard this weekend saying they’re here to stay. Elop adds more:

Today we are part of Microsoft, and Conversations is with us (actually, sitting right next to me!). And this will continue. I strongly believe in an open and transparent dialogue, and am proud that the team made Nokia Conversations one of the most influential company and technology blogs in the world.

Cheers John for the tip!

Category: Nokia