The Irony for Nokia

My article from an old Media & Tech blog (October 6th 2011)

Stephen Elop

This Reuters article has a kind of maudlin irony - Nokia still pledging Windows phone as Apple marches on. Though grieving from Steve Jobs’ death yesterday, Apple is still marching on but for the time being marching to a dirge.

Nokia CEO Stephen Elop has a super tough challenge ahead of him. This article, I’m afraid, doesn’t instill confidence in him. It’s only one article, of course, but to hear him acknowledge how Apple’s innovations have disrupted the industry and raised the bar for mobile makers, without offering anything innovative to really fight back with, leaves me feeling skeptical about its efforts to regain dominance in the market. What’s more, Elop is doing this while cutting headcount and costs.

Most indications are that Apple will indeed march on strongly for the foreseeable future, even if CEO Tim Cook’s first keynote two days ago failed to ‘wow’ fans and analysts. Jobs was known to strategize and plan for the long term, so his hand will still be very much in Apple’s launches for a while yet. However, what Nokia has going for itself is its partnership with Microsoft. Forbes reports Microsoft Hungry for Smartphone Share, Rolls Out Mango Update. Its Windows Phone is poised to rub big-shoulder to big-shoulder with Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android operating systems.

All of this said, the irony for Nokia may be this, too. As Apple fans are mourning, Nokia may just persuade those, who are less than keen now on new Apple stuff, to defect. But just as Cook must inspire, so does Elop. Reuters is a big brand in media, so chances are quite a lot of people read the article I read. To be underwhelmed by what was reported is not good. Better public relations, then. Better market positioning, both of which Apple excels at. We don’t know exactly how Jobs’ death will affect the industry and the market. But the game has changed dramatically for all players involved.

Still, what is Elop’s top-top priority? Deliver on his talk! Deliver new Windows mobiles, in time for the most critical holiday season for both makers and retailers.

Thank you for reading, and let me know what you think!

Ron Villejo, PhD