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Tech vet: Nokia should fire Elop, move to Android

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 05 Jul 2012 6:34 User comments (8)

Tech vet: Nokia should fire Elop, move to Android

Silicon Valley veteran Jean-Louis Gassée has made some bold comments relating to Nokia and their struggles.
Gassée says the handset maker should fire current CEO Stephen Elop, as well as the entire Board of Directors.

Adds the tech vet: "I think that Elop will have to go, but I also think that the board also needs to be renewed with people who have an understanding and working knowledge of the mobile industry."

Elop has come under heavy fire multiple time since being named CEO, most notably after his 'burning platform' memo and more recently when he allowed partner Microsoft to make Nokia Windows Phone 7 products obsolete by announcing Windows Phone 8 months ahead of schedule.

"Microsoft can do that with new versions of Windows; IBM used to do that in the olden days. But I'm shocked that the board of Nokia allowed Elop to do that," noted Gassée.



Windows Phone 7 devices, including the well-received Nokia Lumia 900, cannot upgrade to Windows Phone 8, although they will get a downgraded version, called Windows Phone 7.8.

While Gassee was very critical of Elop, his largest criticisms were for Elop's predecessor Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo. The Board asked Gassee for his advice and he says, "I told them to drop everything and go Android. Do it in secret and let the rumours fly... I would have used Nokia's design flare to make very nice phones. I would integrate Ovi [Nokia's app store] into Android and people would say that Nokia sided with the winner. It would have been tough fighting Samsung, though, because Samsung takes no prisoners. They don't brush their teeth in the morning – they file them."

In the end, Kallasvuo rejected the suggestions, saying instead they would "lose control of their destiny." That seems to have worked out well.

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8 user comments

15.7.2012 19:45

Jean-Louis Gassée is an idiot. Just because Android is popular, doesn't mean it's that good... or will remain popular. Windows Phone is by far a better mobile OS and was the CORRECT move for Nokia.

26.7.2012 00:44

Originally posted by McHale72:
Windows Phone is by far a better mobile OS and was the CORRECT move for Nokia.

not sure about that, at least, at the moment. windows based phones have been a FAIL so far since it could not offer as many "reliable" apps as iphone/android phones did, or great battery life either. furthermore, the OS is not that much upgradable unlike iOS. lumia 900 can not be upgraded to win 8, WTF? iphones have got the ecosystem with apple's huge app store, and iOS is very upgradable; advantage iphone. android phones have got google's huge app store and flexibility of android (although, for many devices, OS is not upgradable); advantage android.

where is windows phones placed?

36.7.2012 07:15

Windows phone WAS the right choice for their crummy phones. When you are building a single-core phone with bad battery life and putting a $900 price tag on it, you can't have any competition. Now, if they were to start making good hardware with reasonable prices, then Android would be the right choice...Nokia does not have the ability to drive an OS, symbian proved that much. Also, they really should have worked with Microsoft a lot better given their commitment to the OS. There is no real reason why Windows 8 mobile should'nt work on these phones, they should have been prepared for the upgrade before they launched the phones, and failing that, Windows 7.8 should have been "Windows 8 lite" or something.

46.7.2012 10:17

I have to agree. M$ really hosed both themselves and Nokia, when they yanked the rug right out from under WP7. Their Marketing Director must be a coke fiend =p ...

This message has been edited since its posting. Latest edit was made on 06 Jul 2012 @ 10:17

56.7.2012 11:33
Disbsam333
Unverified new user

Originally posted by mukhis:
Originally posted by McHale72:
Windows Phone is by far a better mobile OS and was the CORRECT move for Nokia.

not sure about that, at least, at the moment. windows based phones have been a FAIL so far since it could not offer as many "reliable" apps as iphone/android phones did, or great battery life either. furthermore, the OS is not that much upgradable unlike iOS. lumia 900 can not be upgraded to win 8, WTF? iphones have got the ecosystem with apple's huge app store, and iOS is very upgradable; advantage iphone. android phones have got google's huge app store and flexibility of android (although, for many devices, OS is not upgradable); advantage android.

where is windows phones placed?
Same exact thing happened with iPhone 4/4s where the new users didn't get Siri. Do you really thing fast apps can run the same on the Dual-Core 4s as the normal 4? No is the answer. Same with the iPad/iPad2, and every other piece of technology. Computers have always had the same issue. I am sure if they put WP8 on the existing phones, users would be even more unhappy with the poor performance. I am in China right now, and I can tell you this. go into any electronic store right now and you will see no less than 100 Android phones by 20 different manufacturers. Why would Nokia want to compete with that? There is no differentiation besides the garbage skins they use, and thats not even a selling point. With WP8, they have a competitive advantage because Microsoft only licenses out to reputable manufacturers. Once the specs get higher, the technology will outpace the crappy Android phones and WP8's high-tech OS will be #1. Look at it from a more dynamic standpoint.

66.7.2012 19:31

Originally posted by Disbsam333:
Originally posted by mukhis:
Originally posted by McHale72:
Windows Phone is by far a better mobile OS and was the CORRECT move for Nokia.

not sure about that, at least, at the moment. windows based phones have been a FAIL so far since it could not offer as many "reliable" apps as iphone/android phones did, or great battery life either. furthermore, the OS is not that much upgradable unlike iOS. lumia 900 can not be upgraded to win 8, WTF? iphones have got the ecosystem with apple's huge app store, and iOS is very upgradable; advantage iphone. android phones have got google's huge app store and flexibility of android (although, for many devices, OS is not upgradable); advantage android.

where is windows phones placed?
Same exact thing happened with iPhone 4/4s where the new users didn't get Siri. Do you really thing fast apps can run the same on the Dual-Core 4s as the normal 4? No is the answer. Same with the iPad/iPad2, and every other piece of technology. Computers have always had the same issue. I am sure if they put WP8 on the existing phones, users would be even more unhappy with the poor performance. I am in China right now, and I can tell you this. go into any electronic store right now and you will see no less than 100 Android phones by 20 different manufacturers. Why would Nokia want to compete with that? There is no differentiation besides the garbage skins they use, and thats not even a selling point. With WP8, they have a competitive advantage because Microsoft only licenses out to reputable manufacturers. Once the specs get higher, the technology will outpace the crappy Android phones and WP8's high-tech OS will be #1. Look at it from a more dynamic standpoint.
Microsoft does not just license to reputable companies, after all, they licensed to Nokia. As long as the android world is a massive worldwide competition, it will continue to have not only the best hardware, but also the best designs for just about any user. I'd love to see something better than Android take over the market...but it will take competition to get the hardware anywhere and it will take user interest to get competition, and it will take a miracle to get users interested as long as iOS is the easy OS, Android is the capable OS, and Windows is neither.

78.7.2012 13:49

There have been plenty of hardware and software that were "better" than all the rest at the time and they still ultimately failed because of bad decisions....just like the one Microsoft made with the WP8 announcement.

I've owned several Nokia devices with my favorite being a N810 Internet Tablet. Loved it! But it was at least a year behind on hardware and severely stunted by a backwards proprietary OS with minimal app support.

Hmmm...I think I just described every device running Windows Phone/WinMob....

This message has been edited since its posting. Latest edit was made on 08 Jul 2012 @ 1:51

88.7.2012 23:44

Originally posted by KillerBug:
Microsoft does not just license to reputable companies, after all, they licensed to Nokia. As long as the android world is a massive worldwide competition, it will continue to have not only the best hardware, but also the best designs for just about any user. I'd love to see something better than Android take over the market...but it will take competition to get the hardware anywhere and it will take user interest to get competition, and it will take a miracle to get users interested as long as iOS is the easy OS, Android is the capable OS, and Windows is neither.

+1
i would love to see win pro 8 OS is being offered with a tablet with affordable (NOT reasonable, mind you) price but i am afraid it is not going to happen. and yes, given the android's dominance, it will be VERY hard for windows to take over...well, they probably 1st have to kill, or at least compete with the iphone.

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