Elop's enlarged package claim was a cock-up, admits Nokia chairman Nokia's chairman has admitted he was wrong to say that CEO Stephen Elop's €18.8m (£15.6m) payoff was all very regular and run of the mill. As the Finnish giant came under political pressure for promising its outgoing chief exec the whopping windfall, chairman Risto Siilasmaa incorrectly told the press last week that Elop's …
Fear not....
Elop will return to Redmond in time to replace Balmer, he will promptly announce that Windows is a 'burning platform' or maybe a 'melting iceberg' (just for a change), proclaim the future of Windows is Linux and promptly sell off the Microsoft OS business to Canonical, leaving MS as the worlds least exciting smartphone manufacturer and destroyer of Skype, Shuttleworth will then proclaim the future is Unity TILES (tm) for Ubuntu-Windows (tm) and we'll all live happily ever after..... don't tell me you didn't foresee this master plan years ago....
And it annoys me too that there is no "Joke Alert" for anon. As far as I am concerned Skype should go anyway, I am sure there are other alternatives to day, at least internet ones without the land line stuff. I owe you (all of you) a beer if Elop replaces Balmer, A good reason to be anonymous, most likely, without reason. Am I suddenly a good person. Many questions and all the answers soon, and what the fuck.
if only for all the internet hat0rs.
But in reality he deserves it because he sold a loss-making business to Microsoft for good money. Try reading the Annual Accounts from Nokia at http://www.nokia.com/global/about-nokia/investors/financials/reports/results---reports/, choice list at the bottom, and in particular the bit about Nokia's top ten key markets.
In particular, notice how revenue collapses starting in 2008 for Western European markets.
I honestly believe they were fooled, not desperate. They honestly believed they were bringing in someone with global market experience to drive transition from 'candy bar' feature phones to, then still new, smartphones.
You've got to give Nokia credit for sticking with their chosen captain and his decisions. I think that is a positive trait in a company. What isn't positive is that they let the same captain keep running aground while steering directly for the rocks. All the while there were clear courses within site. He should have been relieved of duty when he first ran aground, not allowed to just keep holing the ship. Barring action from above there should have been a mutiny and sea trial. Unless it is just a weird Finnish cultural thing, I really, really don't understand why they didn't get rid of him a long time ago.
"I honestly believe they were fooled, not desperate. They honestly believed they were bringing in someone with global market experience to drive transition from 'candy bar' feature phones to, then still new, smartphones."
You must be joking, or a Yank. Pre-Elop, Nokia held 80% of the smartphone market share, and 40% overall. It didn't take Elop to bring smartphone smarts to Nokia -- it took Elop to all but destroy said smartphone business.
I guess for putting the final nail in a once glorious company, because he couldn't see that Android was the way to go.
I guess M$ probably got him sent in as the hatchet man, so they could get the best bits of Nokia on the cheap.
If only they'd gone for Android, instead of Mobile-Windoze they'd have had a chance, but then for that to happen they'd have needed a CEO who wasn't a M$ patsy.
Nokia still make good hardware, it is just the flipping OS that is a problem, and now M$ has its greasy mitts on it that is very unlikely to change, and so me and lots of others are very unlikely ever to buy one again.
Never say never
Nokia retains patents. I'm fairly sure they might have tied their brand to the deal for a few years, but when that's over nothing is stopping them getting back into the mobile game.
As have been proposed elsewhere, they might even have a little Jolla in their future.
Well one can dream...
Elop made Nokia a burning platform. Nokia could have continued to develop MeeGo, a good phone, they could have done more marketing for it. They could have continued developing Asha. They could have kept QT. And most of all they could have told the world that they will also invest in WinPhone, that could have sounded good and brave for many. Instead Elop put fire on the platform expecting the MS fire department to come to the rescue quickly. it took them a year at least. Now, Nokia fell a sleep before Elop entered. But Elop was hired to make a change, take Nokia back on track. Was Elop dedicated to do that. Keeping his family in Canada does not much support it. Did he, as a Microsoft person, actually believe the name "Microsoft" would be irresistible. What qualifications did he have with producing cell phones except that belief in Microsoft (and Nokia). And then there is that other theory. And yes he was selected by the Nokia board, not many left, perhaps that is as well too.
Android is one option, but I like to think Nokia could have really made something of Maemo, I remember really wanting an N900.
The N9 was pretty nifty, too.
Jolla seems to be taking that path in some way.
Nokia could have done that, too, and had Android application support.
That way, they get to keep their in-house developed software, everyone's happy, Android apps are available from the get go, and nobody has to listen to what Microsoft says.
But, that's not how it turned out, eh.
"After all, why did YLE (Finnish 'BBC') bring up he divorce, except to spit more venom at this "trojan"?"
Elop himself gave it as a reason. He claimed he would have to negotiate with his wife any decrease of the windfall as 50% could have belonged to her anyway (depending on where the divorce will be filed).
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