Nokia dinged with shareholder lawsuit over poor Lumia sales As sure as rain follows a Met Office drought warning, we can expect a share price crash to be followed by a shareholder lawsuit. Now it's Nokia's turn. A class action suit naming Nokia's CEO Steve Elop, and CFO Timo Ihamuotila has been filed by New York law firm, and serial class action rottweilers, Robbins, Geller, Rudman & …
Spot on. And that's what the legal beagles should be suing Elop and those who appointed him for.
A decade after Gerald Ratner demonstrated that a business can't survive if the CEO speaks out against his own product, Elop comes in, pisses all over the existing assets of Nokia, and thinks it will all work out by outsourcing 100% of future phone software to Microsoft, and as far as I can see, outsourcing almost all remaining in house phone manufacture to the far east. What does that leave him with, apart from a big fat undeserved pay packet?
The answer to that should be that Nokia is a brand. But having emptied his own bladder all over it, he's got one hell of a job to turn that around. Added to which if you want to be a successful phone handset maker, you need some worthwhile asset beyond a brand. There are some brands (eg BMW) that could put their label on a turd and still sell it - but that's not some abstract concept of brand, it is built and maintained by the standard of most of its products. Take that away and the brand soon fades.
In the case of fast moving technology products, there's a need not just for adequate quality, but critically for continuous change and innovation. Apple (for all the fact that I wouldn't buy their products) are a very innovative firm. Samsung and LG are very strong in screen technology. Sony offer quirky for those that want it.
What, with no in house software, overlooking a few old patents are Nokia bringing to the party (overlooking a bag of old patents)?
I see your points but Nokia have traditionally provided very solid, reliable hardware for a very reasonable price (Nokia has been known to delay releases by weeks to wait for a slight drop in component prices). The Lumias 710 and 800 show this to still be true (I haven't used the 610 but can't imagine it skimps on quality either).
To answer your question, the thing that they bring to the party is almost iPhone like hardware quality (and good features, like camera tech) for half the price. Unfortunately in the public's eye they are now only known for providing decent quality dumbphones.
As you commented though, Elop has 'done a Ratner' and made it very difficult to regain market share, coupled with the fact that no one cares (or knows) about Windows Phone. The whole thing is a crying shame; Symbian Belle has completed its glacial evolution to become in some ways better than Android (and had it been released 4 years ago it would be in Android's current position), and Windows Phone and the aforementioned Nokia models are all very good - anyone who has actually used a Nokia WP really likes it. Problem is, no one actually wants or knows about Nokia WinPhones and Elop publicly shot Symbian in the head last February. Nokia therefore are getting very close to being kicked out of the party all together.
1. Nokia are now only known for feature phones.
2. Nobody knows about Windows Phone.
3. No one cares about Windows Phone.
4. Windows Phone is very good.
5. Anyone who has actually used a Nokia WP really likes it.
That's five fallacies I've found in your post. There may be others but I really can't be bothered.
How come you got four down votes for a logical counter argument to my views on Elop doing a Ratner?
Anyway, I agree that the latest versions of Symbian have nothing to be ashamed of against either IOS or Android, and I suspect (without being bothered to find out) that WPn is probably an entirely competent, possibly even good phone OS.
I acknowledge your comments about Nokia's value proposition, but they're barking up the wrong tree on that one, certainly with smartphones. Most buyers think "it's only another two quid a month", rather than "it's fifty quid more over the life of the contract". Nobody buys an iPhone for the value, and my SGS2 is easily £200 more over the life of the contract than I actually needed to spend for a basic but competent smartphone. My buying decision was "slim, powerful, lovely screen, I can afford it, does far more than I need, not iPhone" (that should earn me a few down votes if anybody's still reading this thread). And for reliability and build quality, I've got a two year makers warranty on a two year contract - Nokia's track record of durable bricks doesn't matter in that respect, because most smartphones are a two year product, by the end of which they are obsolete, even if fully functioning.
If Nokia can really improve the quality of their smartphone cameras then that might be a starting point of differentiation, but despite the alleged 41Mp camera, image quality isn't really about megapixels, it's about sensor and optical quality, and image processing. And a good camera isn't going to be enough on its own - not only can everybody else stuff more pixels into their camera, but RIM's difficulties show that being a one trick pony isn't a sustainable position. They've got what I believe is the best maps/navigation solution on any mobile platform (wonder if they've gormlessly handed control of that to MS to incorporate into WP?). But that's still not enough.
As you say, a crying shame that Nokia have lost it; I'd like to see them turn it round, but.....
I think its too late to even make Android phones. Look what Sammy is doing to Sony/LG/HTC etc. Nokia is in tatters now. Even if the shareholders did wake up and banish the evil back to Redmond, they'd be in in a far weaker a position then any of those so what chance would they stand? No, if this lawsuit does trigger an investigation, they should look in detail who made what. A good start would be microsofts 8th largest individual shareholder at the time: http://goo.gl/Htrkc
"Nokia is in tatters now."
No it isn't. They can still publicly apologize for prematurely declaring Symbian dead and pursue Harmattan as Symbian true successor instead of WP. Especially since they're STILL (secretly) dishing out upgrades for all their inhouse OS's including Harmattan.
For all I care nothing has changed. Nokia still has Harmattan, Symbian and as a 3rd option Windows Phone 7 (due to be replaced with WP8 though nobody even knows if Nokia will be a partner for WP8-devices). And finally we get a successor to the N8. Now they just need to improve Harmattan and dishing out WP-devices and keeping Symbian's userbase to their heart (as most of them don't want WP at all).
What ppl don't seem to get is that Nokia has promised to support Symbian to at least 2016 while NEXT YEAR WP7 will be obsolete already. Sure Symbian users won't get a quad core, full HD screen hardware but they don't care. They're not influenced by ridiculous over the edge specs and incompetent features but are driven by common sense.
Because lets be honnest. 4G is a pipedream for most telecom-operators as we still haven't got a clue which basebands are being used/supported globally if any. ANd even 3G is awfully implemented in most regions. Again it is about time that comon sense dictates the implementation of these technologies. First globally implement PROPER 3G and THEN roll out 4G. Otherwise it's just a joke.
Secondly. Nokia single handedly drives sale of Symbian, Harmattan and if it wasn't for Nokia WP7 would still be unkown to most o/t world (although Microsoft teamed up with the 3 major Android players, Samsung, HTC and LG, to create/sell handsets before teaming up with Nokia). While Android has at least 4 major companies supporting their act including Google. Nokia still sells most handsets on it's own than any other player in the market. Yet the only thing you lot can do is talk down on Symbian devices. Pathetic!
Thanks for the laughs. Personally I blame the Finnish eugenics program that lasted until the 70s and produced all those blond managers that destroyed Nokia. The hilarious part is that the new chairman replacing Ollila is saying that Nokia must be Finnish to the core, as if a nauseating helping of cheap nationalism and racism is going to make it all right.
Warning - long post, and copied from Slashdot too, but definitely worth repeating:
Microsoft's new "strategic partnership" with Nokia is not its first. For a decade the software company has courted and consummated relationships with a variety of companies in mobile and telecom. Here are the ones I can remember:
LG. In February 2009 Microsoft Corp. signed a multiyear agreement for Windows Mobile to be included on devices from LG Electronics Inc. LG would use Windows Mobile as its "primary platform"for smartphones and produce about 50 models running the software.
What happened? LG made a few Windows Mobile devices but with WinMo uncompetitive, they abandoned the platform and moved to Android losing years of market presence and all their profits.
Motorola. In September 2003, Motorola and Microsoft announced an alliance. "Starting with the introduction of the new Motorola MPx200 mobile phone with Microsoft Windows Mobile software, the companies will collaborate on a series of Smartphone and Pocket PC wireless devices designed to create a virtual "remote control" for the Web-centric, work-centric, always-on-the-go mobile professional." In addition, the alliance includes cooperation on joint marketing and wireless developer programs.
What happened? Motorola launched a series of Windows Mobile phones culminating in the Motorola Q "Blackberry killer". As Motorola hit the rocks in profitability new management reached for the Android liferaft. The company now relies exclusively on the Droid franchise.
Palm. In September 2005 Palm and Microsoft announced a strategic alliance to "accelerate the Smartphone market segment with a new device for mobile professionals and businesses. Palm has licensed the Microsoft Windows Mobile operating system for an expanded line of Treo Smartphones, the first of which will be available on Verizon Wirelessâ(TM) national wireless broadband network."
What happened? Palm shipped a few Windows Mobile, famously dismissing Appleâ(TM)s potential entry as something "PC guys" could never achieve. A new CEO, a private placement and an acquisition later the company is a division of HP making its own operating system.
Nortel. When Steve Ballmer was famously laughing at the iPhone and saying that he likes the Windows Mobile strategy "a lot" he was sitting next to the then-CEO of Nortel (Mike Zafirovski formerly of Motorola) with whom the company had just closed a strategic deal. "an alliance between Microsoft and Nortel announced in July 2006 ⦠includes three new joint solutions to dramatically improve business communications by breaking down the barriers between voice, e-mail, instant messaging, multimedia conferencing and other forms of communication".
What happened? Nortel declared bankruptcy two years later.
Verizon. In January 2009 "Verizon Wireless has selected Microsoft Corp. to provide portal, local and Internet search as well as mobile advertising services to customers on its devices. The five-year agreement will go into effect in the first half of 2009 when Microsoft Live Search is targeted to be available on new Verizon Wireless feature phones and smartphones." The deal would ensure Bing distribution to all of Verizonâ(TM)s smartphone customers.
What happened? Bing did ship on some devices but in October 2009 Droid came to Verizon.
Ericsson. In September 2000, "Ericsson and Microsoft Corp. today launched Ericsson Microsoft Mobile Venture AB. This previously announced joint company will drive the mobile Internet by developing and marketing mobile e-mail solutions for operators. The first solutions are expected to be on the market by the end of the year. The company is part of a broader strategic alliance between Ericsson and Microsoft"
What happened? Ericsson divested itself of the mobile division forming a joint venture which would go on and make more strategic alliances with Microsoft over Windows Mobile culminating in a loss of profits and eventual flight to Android.
Sendo. In February 2001, Microsoft announced a partnership, in which Microsoft bought $12m of Sendo shares and a seat on the board. Sendo was to be Microsoft's "go to market partner" for the Stinger smartphone platform that would become Smartphone 2002.
What happened? Sendo after litigating IP issues with Microsoft went bankrupt in 2005.
And finally,
Nokia. No, not this OS deal, but in August 2009 âThe worldwide leader in software and the worldâ(TM)s largest smartphone manufacturer have entered into an alliance that is set to deliver a groundbreaking, enterprise-grade solution for mobile productivity. Today, Microsoft Business Division President Stephen Elop and Nokiaâ(TM)s Executive Vice President for Devices Kai Ã-istÃmà announced the agreement, outlining a shared vision for the future of mobile productivity. This is the first time that either company has embarked on an alliance of this scope and nature.â
The plan was to bring âoeMicrosoft Office Mobile and Microsoft business communications, collaboration and device management software to Nokiaâ(TM)s Symbian devices.â
What happened? One and a half years later the same Stephen Elop announced that Symbian will be deprecated.
"The plan was to bring âoeMicrosoft Office Mobile and Microsoft business communications, collaboration and device management software to Nokiaâ(TM)s Symbian devices.â"
Which they did in early 2012. By this time Microsoft Office became the insignificant blob on the world's radar. Especially on cellphones.
"What happened? One and a half years later the same Stephen Elop announced that Symbian will be deprecated."
That's 1 of his biggest mistakes. At the height of it's success (the N8 was selling quite good back then) he prematurely declared the platform dead without a real successor at hand for several months to come.
2nd mistake is that Nokia is nitpicking which country/region gets what device (and even what colour). Nokia should do as Samsung, sell ALL their portfolio globally without discrimination. It shouldn't matter what OS the sold phone has (Symbian, Harmattan, WP7 or MSDOS for all care) as long as it has a Nokia badge! THAT'S Nokia's BIGGEST failure. Because whether El Reg likes it or not. Some people DO want a Nokia phone and Nokia should just SELL IT!
Samsung release a few days ago the SGSIII. MOST o/t world will get that model in BOTH colours shown on the release event by the end of this month. They get it! They're the whore o/t phone-market but at least you can get any samsung you want everywhere whether it has Bada, Android or WP7. While I can only get an ugly silver 701 in this fucking country when I wanted the black one!
"It shouldn't matter what OS the sold phone has (Symbian, Harmattan, WP7 or MSDOS for all care) "
C:\WP>CD Contacts
C:\WP\Contacts>DIR /B
mum.num
dad.num
elsie.num
roy.num
C:\WP\Contacts>
copy con john.num
0427600123^z
1 files(s) copied.
C:\WP\Contacts>dialer.exe john.num
MS DOS DIALLER V1.7.
atxdt0427600213
atl3
Press Any Key to Continue...
ath
C:\WP\Contacts>
"the company is surely worth more by being broken up - Elop and his plan is achieving total destruction of shareholder value."
Is that true? Does Nokia actually have anything worth selling now? They have killed or maimed adn killed everything that they used to have of value I thought. I can't believe how they've gone from having a phone at least 10 years ahead of anyone (communicator) to just circuling around the drain, about to be gone forever.
Is that true? Does Nokia actually have anything worth selling now?
Off the top of my head...
Thousands of very relevant hardware and software patents - in an auction, easily worth $6-$8bn, and earning some decent annual coin out of Apple
Navteq - probably the best mobile online/offline navigation solution around, maybe worth a $1bn (certainly not the $8bn Nokia paid for it)
NSN - $1bn+, bit of a money pit right now but slowly turning around back to profitability
Feature phone business - $1-$2bn if flogged off to a Chinese manufacturer
Vertu - apparently worth $250m
Cash - currently stands at about $4bn
Then you've got various assets, including factories, offices, equipment etc. and even the smartphone business and brand - the brand alone is worth a fair chunk of change to the right buyer, although Elop is successfully hauling it through the mud as we speak.
All in all, right now, breaking up Nokia would most likely yield more value than selling it as a whole, going concern. Nice job, Mr. Elop.
That's what happens when you don't invest in engineering and shove your head in the sand and hope all the problems go away.
No, it's what happens when you hitch the future of your business to a partner that doesn't share the same core values that your current customers have believed in all these years. Particularly when that relationship is akin to snatching defeat from the jaws of victory (the transition to Qt on Symbian Belle and MeeGo-Harmattan was going well and when launched, very well received by reviewers, users and developers alike, N9 outselling Lumia etc.).
People that bought Nokia in the past will, by and large, not buy Nokia now that it is dominated by Microsoft. Ignoring the past mistakes pre-Elop, there was still a certain appeal about an independent Nokia - I think Elop has misjudged this aspect of the business and totally destroyed what it was that made Nokia (and Nokia products) unique.
I can relate to the N97 failure personally. WIfi was either flaky or non-existent. (changed the handset 3 times). Customer services pants. They only reflashed the firmware 3 times and returned as "fixed" (and waited a week each time). Nokia PC suit software buggy as always. Took ages to recognise phone. OVi store. another nightmare in browsing and having phone recognised for any meaningful download.
Setting up APN a nightmare through connections programe involving many, many steps.
And finally manged to browse through mobile Data plan (no wifi) , well one knows the UI.
One replacement was a refurbished/returned one with a different back case on the back ( Black and white body!).
Thats when got the epiphany, as to how arrogant and out of touch , this company became.
To top it, they brought in Elop whose mission is slash and burn.
Way to go, shareholders and cleanse the board.
Its an abject management lesson in "race to the bottom" and how one man can destroy the most esteemed company in a mtter of few months.
Yes, my experience was very similar, after around 8 years of buying (almost) exclusively Nokias, the N97 was the straw that broke the camel's back.
The fault that really irked me was the way the lens cover scratched the lens when it was opened and closed due to a design tolerance issue.
BUT, even with all the problems I would have still have been a Nokia die-hard, except the attitude of Nokia was arrogance and denial. I persevered with that phone for 6 months before I realised I'd been taken for a fool and moved onto my first Android handset.
The same arrogance that allowed the N97 to be released and keep shipping is still visible today in the decision to go for a single, unproven platform rather than take a multi-platform approach.
I give them 18 months and they'll be consumed by the beast.
Oh man, this sounds very familiar to me too! I lived and breathed Nokia (from 5246, 3210, 3310, 8310, 7250, 6230, N70) and had a N95 - that was really the best phone for its time. The rot started with the N96, a phone that was massively unresponsive and awful to use, suffice to say I didn't get that. But when the N97 was released, I was one of the first to get it, despite being heavily warned off by two friends who worked for Vodafone. How right they were. The camera much much worse than the N95, the "widgets" were pants, the GPS was worse than the N95 (taking an AAAAGE to lock onto the current location), the fonts were unreadable and the OS itself was buggy as hell - looking like a hastily-modified S60 which wasn't (and still isn't) suited to touch-screen use. After six months of fighting against the awful phone, the last straw was when I dropped it - the touch screen stopped working. So much for the resilience of Nokia phones in general (all my previous phones had been dropped on concrete at least once - all unaffected, this one breaks instantly). I lost it and smashed it to a million pieces. Had to go back to the N95, at least I had a phone that could take good pictures, had much better-sounding and louder speakers, and didn't fight against me.
My next phone was an Android (HTC Desire HD) - the phone the Nokia N97 SHOULD have been. I have never looked back since.
"I can relate to the N97 failure..."
Here we go again.
Please stop driveling on about that bloody N97! YES WE KNOW ITS CRAP! But that device has long since burried and forgotten (aparantly not by the 'press' whom keep digging it up and pretending that current Nokia devices must be as bad as that device).
A 1.3GHz Nokia 701 is a fantastic Symbian phone. It's EASY to use, quick, has a fair battery live and looks very good IMHO. There's nothing wrong with it as a competent smartphone. Sure, some things are not as good as others but these can be circumvented by THIRD PARTY APPLICATIONS which is the MAIN PURPOSE of a smartphone. "Don't like the inbuild app-X, then create a better one yourself!" Other things are BETTER than others. That's with every platform out there. Android has its strong pionts just as WP7 and iOS and all have also their drawbacks. So what? Stop talking down on Symbian. Take it for what it is, a good multitasking worktool OS. But stop comparing 2008 devices with 2012 devices. You don't talk down on iPhone 4 (let alone a 4S) because you didn't like the iPhone 2G.
It's about time El Reg got some serious editors. In my book objectivity is the main ingredient for a competent editor!
Manu T. The article is about Nokias products and its downfall.
In my opinion, the slide started with the N97, which was touted and advertised as the ultimate in smartphone ( no its a computer in your pocket or some such blrub) and the advertising budget of a third world country's annual GDP.
AND the issue highlighted is the sheer arrogance and disdain displayed by Nokia, when problems arose, in keeping pushing it (assuming consumers were idiots who would keep buying no matter what the faults - another insult, taken for mugs/ granted).
The device may be buried, but not forgotten by us, who bore the brunt of the company's cynical lies, stonewalling and outright deceit, after paying a high price for the product.
As much as you love Symbian (good for a basic phone), theres scores of us , who have been abolsutely riled by Nokia in pretending that SYmbian s60 was the ultimate in smartphone OS, and without remorse.
And the majority of people are NOT INTERESTED in making their own apps. ( you sound just like Nokia management now)
They only want what is offered to "just work" !
And thats the point.
The N97 wasn't even the best Symbian phone at the time - the Samsung Omnia HD was released at around the same time as the N97 and was streets ahead in performance. Part of Nokia's problem at the time was that they would release phones with old processors and a lack of memory, presumably for penny pinching reasons. The Omnia HD had double the RAM and a better processor compared with the N97, and it worked much better. Nokia short changed Symbian as much as vice versa.
The N97 massively blew Nokia's credibility with consumers and operators. It allowed iPhone and Android to run away with it in 2010. Nobody can possibly talk about Nokia's current predicament without talking about the N97.
Then Google would not be in court explaining why they stole so much IP from Oracle. Andoid is not Linux, it is a low cost, plagerised copy of iOS. It is true that Google hands it out for free. However, this is so they can spy on their users and sell their personal information. There is a price for every operating system. Most Android users are just too dumb to realise they are paying it.
This post has been deleted by its author
Thanks for the two year old link Bob. I presume it was an attempt at humour? Anyhow, I do not have an iPhone (well, I do, but an old one). After owning Blackberries, an iPhone, a Samsung Galaxy (briefly, it was crap) I have now settled on a Lumia 800 as my device of choice. It is by far the smartphone I have used.
I have to agree. I loved my Bold 9000, thought my iPhone 3 was a good toy and the iPhone 4 a little better but found I spent the whole time playing games and it wasn't any good as a phone. Had a torch 9800 for a while and grew to hate it. Slow, clunky unresponsive (two minutes to start from cold!). No I've a Lumia 710 (with that great innovation, a removable battery). It's slick and a pleasure to use.
But the phone OS wars are not about the quality of the product, athough I accept the point that the brand is the product, the product is the brand, the real battle is the operators against the handset manufacturers. The operators can see that Apple has sucked all the value out of their business. This is why they will go balls out to support Samsung with the SIII being "better than the iPhone", but the operators are cautious of both Google and Microsoft's VoIP plans and it will be the one that plays ball that finds itself on the font page of operators web sites with special deals and in the prime position in the shops planogram.
This post has been deleted by its author
@A/C 21:01
So you're saying Android is a copy of iOS and that is why Oracle are dragging Google to court... So in your world Oracle wrote iOS?
The reason Oracle are upset is that Android phones run a Javaesque virtual machine called Davlik. This allows apps to be written once and run on lots of different hardware.
iOS and Android do have quite a few similarities, but that is because they have the same great grandfather, Unix. Android is a branch of Linux which was inspired by Unix.
iOS comes from OSX which comes from NextStep BSD which is Unix.
Yes, google does collect information, but at least there are tick boxes and warning that wifi info will be sent back. iOS did exactly the same, but didn't provide any such warning. Both do it for the same reason, to improve A-GPS.
Oh you know what, I can't be bothered to feed the flame baiting any more.
Come back when you've worked out how to be a real troll.
clearly you don't know what Intellectual Property is - nor what plagarism is either.
Just because Mr Otto invented a thing called the Internal Combustion Engine did not mean he got an exclusive patent. Why? because much of it was based on earlier Steam Engine (external combustion) technology as well as others.
Similarly iOS is based on BSD and Unix. Android is based on Linux and UNIX.
If you are thinking of that nice GUI, then guess what, those icon thingies have been around for ages too.
I know it must be annoying for Apple fanbois to have ton admit that their favourite fruit is not and never has been unique, but it's a fact
"They just need to stop pushing their 'button" phones"
They're NOT pushing button phones.
Besides some people WANT button phones!
It's not because YOU want 4" screens with Full HD and hexa-core cpu's on a 2mm thin device that everyone else want that too.
I only wan't to a decent smartphone that I can sync with outlook over US/BT/Wifi, that can record phonecalls AUTOMATICALLY (even when the call is made over BT). Those are my prime reasons for a new phone. If the SGSIII can't do it, then need not to apply. The same for Sony's next flagshipphone or the new iPhone 5/5S/6/whatever or the new BlackBerry 10-phone.
It didn't take a genius to work out the moment the burning platform email did the rounds, and Microsoft were their partners, that they were screwed, and it was time to sell up and move on.
If anyone needs Barry Shitpeas tech stock consultant, let me know. then again, don't bother, I have more more than I know what to do with, from my ARM shares...
The Register 
Biting the hand that feeds IT
Copyright. All rights reserved © 1998–2024
