Rats, sinking ships…just a few of the words that come into mind when looking at the stream of news from ‘troubled’ Nokia. Today has seen several sources quoting that their CTO – Rich Green – had quit in a disagreement over policy. The disagreement was over Nokia’s plan to scrap its Meego operating system, an open-source platform co-operation with Intel which was due to replace Symbian. But Elop, as we know, decided to go with Microsoft. On top of that, Standard & Poor downgraded Nokia debt to BBB+.
Then there are the string of takeover rumours. Last week it was Microsoft. Yesterday it was Samsung. All this led CEO Stephen Elop today to brand them all as ‘baseless’.
In a way it is all rather sad. I remember having my first brick Nokia phone back in the mid 1980s and have had one of their ‘dumbphones’ ever since. I have a drawer full – must donate them to someone. But their smartphones have never appealed to me. I know I am ‘not alone’.
As I have said countless times, I think this was a good deal for Microsoft but ‘not so good’ for Nokia. Bluntly, however much Elop might protest, I think Microsoft acquiring them is a good option for both parties. Just give it time…