Editorial: Where Does Nokia (and a Nokia Fan) Go From Here?

The last place I ever wanted to be was sitting in front of my laptop writing this article, yet here I am. It’s done, there’s no point wondering if Elop was a trojan or if it was just the play of the cards that Nokia was dealt so what now?

First of all Nokia as a brand will survive, and it’s important to keep in mind that Nokia has changed multiple times over the years, when it failed to succeed it cut off the part that was failing and moved on. Or turned to greener pastures, from the paper company to the rubber manufacturer, to electricity and cable, Nokia has seen many switches over the years and losing it’s devices and services company is a far cry from their biggest direction change.

In terms of the company that is the Finnish pride and joy, it will carry on; be that through its services division (HERE and NSN) or through the R&D that they still maintain, Microsoft could very will continue to “hire” Nokia as an external partner to do some R&D or drum up ideas for them; and before long we might see another change in Nokia’s goal, who knows?

In terms of the handset manufacturer Nokia is gone, but still there. Microsoft have acquired a huge chunk of Nokia employees and many of the faces remain the same, but the person in charge has shifted; and unfortunately so will the ideals. Microsoft might be a great company, but it was never described as the “warm” type, nor “friendly” in fact many people hate it for its past (although I think it’s doing alright right now). So what is the “Next Chapter” for the non-finnish fans out there, the people who loved Nokia for their humane touch, great devices and outstanding cameras?

The “Lumia” line will undoubtedly live on, as will “Asha”; and in the short term nothing will change. It’s common knowledge that Nokia (and other companies) map out their strategies for years to come, that undoubtedly means that there are several Nokia devices still in the pipeline, borne from the independent Nokia. We have the Lumia 1520 (phablet), surely a successor for the 820, several Ashas and a tablet or two (which some will argue are Microsoft’s work). But what happens when Nokia’s pre-planned devices run out, when the last mapped out Lumia is over what happens? And what happens to classic devices that are still in production?

Microsoft have acquired the Lumia and Asha brand name, but not the Nokia one; so it’s safe to assume that devices will ship without a Nokia branding in the future (what does this mean for devices such as the 625, 515,1020 etc that have already been produced/announced?) will they continue to be produced just without the Nokia logo?

From a personal perspective, I want to (and need to) pretend that everything is pretty much the same, just under new management. The goals of the devices division of Nokia can’t change much, they’re still dedicated to Windows Phone (maybe we’ll finally get rid of the Android Nokia rumors), and devices will continue to be produced with similar designs and goals. I can’t imagine Microsoft throwing out all of Nokia’s hard work in the imaging departments, so camera phones will continue to be a huge part of the devices in the future. The way I see it this is just a step further into the inevitable (that I chose to ignore), the best analogy I’ve seen is that of a couple living together who finally decided to get married.

In terms of WP development it can go either way, without the external pressure from Nokia on Microsoft to speed up updates they might fall behind, and they might lose the WP innovations brought by Nokia such as Glance, tap to wake, pro cam and more. Or it might go the other way, and the joining of the two companies could accelerate the production of WP thanks to easier communication channels, frankly it all depends on who ends up where in the executive food chain (and what their priorities are).

Let’s not forget that a lot of the same great minds are still present, it’s just a matter of what it says on the employment badge; hopefully the innovations and great ideas will still come, and we won’t lose touch of the human side of the company; after all that’s what we loved about it right?

What I personally would like to see (and think would be the smart choice) is for Microsoft to continue to treat the “Lumia” brand a separate entity, similar to how VW, Audi, Lamborghini etc. are managed. While continuing to push out “Lumias” they can use the expertise and personnel gained to launch a sister brand “Surface” or whatever you want to call it, with each of them carrying on their respective design languages. But who am I to say?

Tags: Editorial, featured, Nokia

Category: Lumia, Nokia, Windows Phone