Many Europeans will always hate him for destroying Nokia and wasting tens of thousands of jobs. He's not even someone you'd want as a public face. Not in the old continent, at least.
Very reasonable to hate him, and I usually think hate is too strong a word to use. But when you are talking about a man who threw away the world's most famous phone company and struck a deal with Microsoft, then can talk about hate.
Actually the phone division made money before he was hired and took his position, network business lost money but they later was subsidizing the phone-business instead, and didn't have to face the same type of cuts. He turned the business making money into a liability and that is why they had to let it to go for nothing.
Even completely ignoring what happened after Elop, Nokia wasn't exactly doing swimmingly before he came on. They were completely floundering with their own platforms (building a great device isn't enough), and they didn't have a way to differentiate with Android that consumers actually cared about. You can look at Elop as putting the nail in the coffin of Nokia's past, but they seem to have dug their own grave.
I argue that he could have done a lot better than he did, and almost everyone agrees.
They needed to scrap the multiple platforms they had to concentrate on one: Maemo (Meego, later). Look at the Nokia N9. Probably the last real Nokia flagship.
Look at Blackberry, they can run Android apps on their OS.
Meego was Linux based and would have been adaptable to run Android applications as well as their existing Qt framework.
So if we imagine more devices like the N9, with Android app compatibility, that was possible 3 years ago. Instead, they took a torch to all the talent they had and got a guy in who wasn't Finnish, didn't care about Finland, had worked for Microsoft before, and got him to anchor Nokia to literally the least popular phone platform of the time.
Phones that geeks (like those of us who read this site) want sequels too. Not the general buying public which accounts for almost the totality of device sales. I don't think anyone has ever doubted that Nokia can build kick ass hardware. They've also got some strong software capabilities (e.g. mapping). But the technical feasibility to run Android apps doesn't make a good platform, which is where they totally failed over several years. They wouldn't have had access to the Play store. So create their own? Have it be sparsely populated and rarely updated (Amazon app store) by developers because the ecosystem wasn't big enough to be worth it? Realistically they were years away from a competitive platform (not devices) if they ever could have gotten there, and they were bleeding cash the whole time. I don't care about Elop one way or another, but I'd say Nokia's fall from grace is mostly attributed to the years between 2007 and when Elop was hired. The executive management during those years completely failed the company, their shareholders, and their fans. The ability to run Android apps isn't going to save Blackberry either.
Nokia wasn't blowing the market up, but Elop tanked them hard. There's a difference between being an in-the-running third place or fourth place in a sea of big money and where Elop left Nokia.
He completely decimated their sales to absurdly low levels. They had no choice but to extort Microsoft by threatening to go Android. The negative press on that would have left Windows Phone with no chance in the market at all. That's how they got Microsoft to fork over a billion for Nokia's mobility division (without the brand), get to still work on their own Android phone, and then watch as MS finally had had one too many billion dollar screwups by Ballmer to take another one.
That's when Bill Gates and his ego could no longer protect Ballmer from being taken out of the big chair. I'm sure Gates didn't want to acknowledge he'd made a mistake with Ballmer, but that billion dollar mistake was just one too many billion dollar mistakes to let stand.
That's why Ballmer went from sure of his status to out the door in only a few months around the same time as the Nokia purchase. He'd screwed up with that purchase they had to write off. They screwed up with Windows Vista. They screwed up with Windows 8. They didn't manage to fix the screw up with 8.1. They screwed up the Xbox One launch and seemingly have screwed up the first year (at least) of its sales. They've screwed up Windows Phone despite repeated platform changes that obsolete each and every last version of the OS when going to a new one despite Android and iOS being able to maintain software compatibility for their apps. They screwed up RT's release and branding and everything about it, really. Then they screwed up Surface, too, and went from premium to practically giving it away to make it have any kind of pickup in the marketplace.
Having to pay Nokia a billion dollars for their mobility division SANS their actual brand was the last straw. He had no more time to correct Microsoft's course and assure his legacy would be a great one, so he rushed to finish his reorganization strategy and probably had to have Gates tell him what to do to get it done.
At least there, he would get the credit if the reorganization helped make the company rebound. But they weren't going to leave Microsoft in his hands any longer.
Elop would still be rewarded in this scenario because he did exactly what he said he would. He tanked Nokia by tying it to an OS that was fringe at best and incomplete. What few people had been loyal to Nokia left in droves because whereas they would have gone for a boring, standard Android device that could use one of the bajillions of Android apps, they were forced to decide between Windows Phones or having apps.
And phones are defined by the apps they have. You don't see on ads, "We now have a Windows Phone app." Nope. You see, "We have an iOS and Android app."
So Nokia made Microsoft pay a billion dollars for losing them billions. Nobody won, but at least Nokia got a laugh at Microsoft's expense at the end.
Sorry, but sales were already mostly falling (but got masked by few emergent markets, but not for long either) So Elop wasn't cause. In fact as market went on, I doubt anybody would be able to salvage it before sales hitting bottom.
Your post is just one giant ignorant rant, which doesn't contain much of truth, but rewrite of history and boatload of projection and wrong assumptions (respectively baseless).
That would be previous CEO who managed to mismanage company. (Like trying to import different corporate culture) Elop was already coming to sinking ship. (Best example is utterly broken development of Meego)
Wow, I can't think of anything Microsoft hasn't already tried with the Xbox One that would make me more disinterested in it.
Let's give the decision to the guy they bring in to shut things down as a Trojan horse! Oh yeah!
I guess if I have to pick a console it will have to be PS4 but Sony isn't exactly great either, they've jumped on the charge for online play bandwagon now too.
I don't have a PS4 yet, but do own a PS3 and Vita.
The thing you seem to be neglecting is the fact that PS+ is actually an awesome deal. Paid 50 bucks myself for a yearly subscription, and gained access to more *free* awesome games than I have time to play.
For all the years I've owned my PS3 I am now dumbfounded to how much I could have saved up had I signed up for the service before.
As an extra tho, I got a PS+ code from an e-tailer... not comfortable giving my CC info away if I can avoid it, heh.
It doesn't matter how much content you get for the price, the plain fact is that there is still a pay wall for online multiplayer. One that only exists on PS4 and Xbox and not on Android, Windows, Steam OS or anything else you can play games on.
That is nonsense, of course it matters. I'm half way down my first PSN+ year, and I already got much more games for free (which I would definitely purchase otherwise) than my full year subscription is. I saved money by going PSN+.
On top of that, I got handful of games that I would not necessarily purchase, but this way I got chance to try them for free as well.
Xbox Live will give you two games too and it was case for quite bit longer then with PS+. And those games will be yours even if you stop paying for service, unlike with PS+, where you lose access to them.
Elop planning to get rid of xbox division was all rumours!! Why are people reacting on baseless rumours created by pseudo journalists/Tech bloggers to increase page hits.
I agree with this. If memory serves correctly, everything I've read about Elop wanting to get rid of XBox were rumors. On the other hand, "devices and services" also includes Surface, and I'm pretty excited to see what Elop comes up with on that front. Can you imagine a 2520-esque Surface running full 8.1? That would be sweet.
Well, the other points stand. Bloomberg wants pageviews as much as anyone else, and that is a nothing article. "would also consider selling healthy businesses such as the Xbox game console if he determined they weren’t critical to the company’s strategy."
Proving once again that the only way to be a (possible) CEO is to be boring and say absolutely nothing (even internally) or people will freak out. And then remember it for all time for future freak-outs.
Sounds an awful lot like Satya has decided he wants rid of XBox. Who better to oversee it's exit? It's going to be a tough sell - it loses money overall and is coming a clear second in the latest generation.
Remember the N-Gage and the N-Gage QD? Of course not. That's because Nokia only sold a handful of them. They were bought almost solely by phone reviewers who said the devices didn't work well as either a phone or a gaming device, or anything else for that matter. Bravo Mr Elop for your attempt to market to mobile gamers. Bravo M$ for choosing Mr.Elop who at least now knows what not to do... but might still try to do again anyways.
Maybe the execs realize the xbox one is a sinking ship and they're just putting someone there to take all the blame for Julie Larson-Green's failures and so she get's to keep her job while they'll have a convenient excuse to axe a overly paid Nokia guy. When in reality they should get rid of bofe o'vem and hire me who actually knows a thing or two about gaming and what gamers want, like mice and keyboards for fps' & LAN + dedicated private servers + modding tools + offline bots + persistent worlds, and Occulus support!!!
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ToTTenTranz - Wednesday, February 26, 2014 - link
So to run the XBox brand and devices, they put the guy who wanted to get rid of the XBox brand and devices if he became CEO?piroroadkill - Wednesday, February 26, 2014 - link
Microsoft Logic.ToTTenTranz - Wednesday, February 26, 2014 - link
Many Europeans will always hate him for destroying Nokia and wasting tens of thousands of jobs.He's not even someone you'd want as a public face. Not in the old continent, at least.
piroroadkill - Wednesday, February 26, 2014 - link
Very reasonable to hate him, and I usually think hate is too strong a word to use. But when you are talking about a man who threw away the world's most famous phone company and struck a deal with Microsoft, then can talk about hate.dylan522p - Wednesday, February 26, 2014 - link
Despite that, he took Nokia from losing tons every month to breaking even and even profiting.Penti - Wednesday, February 26, 2014 - link
Actually the phone division made money before he was hired and took his position, network business lost money but they later was subsidizing the phone-business instead, and didn't have to face the same type of cuts. He turned the business making money into a liability and that is why they had to let it to go for nothing.Klimax - Friday, February 28, 2014 - link
Sorry, but Nokia was already failing quite bit longer before Elop even came. It's just wishful thinking trying to blame him for it, but is misplaced.Krysto - Wednesday, February 26, 2014 - link
Time for Europeans to boycott the Xbox, if they aren't already.beginner99 - Wednesday, February 26, 2014 - link
What is the XBox? Never heard of that... ;)ddriver - Wednesday, February 26, 2014 - link
What box?Klimax - Friday, February 28, 2014 - link
For some stupid reason, which wasn't ever based in reality? And thus true?Bob Todd - Wednesday, February 26, 2014 - link
Even completely ignoring what happened after Elop, Nokia wasn't exactly doing swimmingly before he came on. They were completely floundering with their own platforms (building a great device isn't enough), and they didn't have a way to differentiate with Android that consumers actually cared about. You can look at Elop as putting the nail in the coffin of Nokia's past, but they seem to have dug their own grave.piroroadkill - Wednesday, February 26, 2014 - link
I argue that he could have done a lot better than he did, and almost everyone agrees.They needed to scrap the multiple platforms they had to concentrate on one: Maemo (Meego, later). Look at the Nokia N9. Probably the last real Nokia flagship.
Look at Blackberry, they can run Android apps on their OS.
Meego was Linux based and would have been adaptable to run Android applications as well as their existing Qt framework.
So if we imagine more devices like the N9, with Android app compatibility, that was possible 3 years ago. Instead, they took a torch to all the talent they had and got a guy in who wasn't Finnish, didn't care about Finland, had worked for Microsoft before, and got him to anchor Nokia to literally the least popular phone platform of the time.
That's Elop's fault.
piroroadkill - Wednesday, February 26, 2014 - link
To expand on this, look at the Nokia N900! N950! Phones people want a sequel to.Bob Todd - Wednesday, February 26, 2014 - link
Phones that geeks (like those of us who read this site) want sequels too. Not the general buying public which accounts for almost the totality of device sales. I don't think anyone has ever doubted that Nokia can build kick ass hardware. They've also got some strong software capabilities (e.g. mapping). But the technical feasibility to run Android apps doesn't make a good platform, which is where they totally failed over several years. They wouldn't have had access to the Play store. So create their own? Have it be sparsely populated and rarely updated (Amazon app store) by developers because the ecosystem wasn't big enough to be worth it? Realistically they were years away from a competitive platform (not devices) if they ever could have gotten there, and they were bleeding cash the whole time. I don't care about Elop one way or another, but I'd say Nokia's fall from grace is mostly attributed to the years between 2007 and when Elop was hired. The executive management during those years completely failed the company, their shareholders, and their fans. The ability to run Android apps isn't going to save Blackberry either.djboxbaba - Wednesday, February 26, 2014 - link
Thank you, finally someone actually gets it.Klimax - Friday, February 28, 2014 - link
Meego was already behind and had broken process. It would just accelerate downfall.HisDivineOrder - Wednesday, February 26, 2014 - link
Revisionist history.Nokia wasn't blowing the market up, but Elop tanked them hard. There's a difference between being an in-the-running third place or fourth place in a sea of big money and where Elop left Nokia.
He completely decimated their sales to absurdly low levels. They had no choice but to extort Microsoft by threatening to go Android. The negative press on that would have left Windows Phone with no chance in the market at all. That's how they got Microsoft to fork over a billion for Nokia's mobility division (without the brand), get to still work on their own Android phone, and then watch as MS finally had had one too many billion dollar screwups by Ballmer to take another one.
That's when Bill Gates and his ego could no longer protect Ballmer from being taken out of the big chair. I'm sure Gates didn't want to acknowledge he'd made a mistake with Ballmer, but that billion dollar mistake was just one too many billion dollar mistakes to let stand.
That's why Ballmer went from sure of his status to out the door in only a few months around the same time as the Nokia purchase. He'd screwed up with that purchase they had to write off. They screwed up with Windows Vista. They screwed up with Windows 8. They didn't manage to fix the screw up with 8.1. They screwed up the Xbox One launch and seemingly have screwed up the first year (at least) of its sales. They've screwed up Windows Phone despite repeated platform changes that obsolete each and every last version of the OS when going to a new one despite Android and iOS being able to maintain software compatibility for their apps. They screwed up RT's release and branding and everything about it, really. Then they screwed up Surface, too, and went from premium to practically giving it away to make it have any kind of pickup in the marketplace.
Having to pay Nokia a billion dollars for their mobility division SANS their actual brand was the last straw. He had no more time to correct Microsoft's course and assure his legacy would be a great one, so he rushed to finish his reorganization strategy and probably had to have Gates tell him what to do to get it done.
At least there, he would get the credit if the reorganization helped make the company rebound. But they weren't going to leave Microsoft in his hands any longer.
Elop would still be rewarded in this scenario because he did exactly what he said he would. He tanked Nokia by tying it to an OS that was fringe at best and incomplete. What few people had been loyal to Nokia left in droves because whereas they would have gone for a boring, standard Android device that could use one of the bajillions of Android apps, they were forced to decide between Windows Phones or having apps.
And phones are defined by the apps they have. You don't see on ads, "We now have a Windows Phone app." Nope. You see, "We have an iOS and Android app."
So Nokia made Microsoft pay a billion dollars for losing them billions. Nobody won, but at least Nokia got a laugh at Microsoft's expense at the end.
Klimax - Friday, February 28, 2014 - link
Sorry, but sales were already mostly falling (but got masked by few emergent markets, but not for long either) So Elop wasn't cause. In fact as market went on, I doubt anybody would be able to salvage it before sales hitting bottom.Your post is just one giant ignorant rant, which doesn't contain much of truth, but rewrite of history and boatload of projection and wrong assumptions (respectively baseless).
Klimax - Friday, February 28, 2014 - link
That would be previous CEO who managed to mismanage company. (Like trying to import different corporate culture) Elop was already coming to sinking ship. (Best example is utterly broken development of Meego)Flunk - Wednesday, February 26, 2014 - link
Wow, I can't think of anything Microsoft hasn't already tried with the Xbox One that would make me more disinterested in it.Let's give the decision to the guy they bring in to shut things down as a Trojan horse! Oh yeah!
I guess if I have to pick a console it will have to be PS4 but Sony isn't exactly great either, they've jumped on the charge for online play bandwagon now too.
LordanSS - Wednesday, February 26, 2014 - link
I don't have a PS4 yet, but do own a PS3 and Vita.The thing you seem to be neglecting is the fact that PS+ is actually an awesome deal. Paid 50 bucks myself for a yearly subscription, and gained access to more *free* awesome games than I have time to play.
For all the years I've owned my PS3 I am now dumbfounded to how much I could have saved up had I signed up for the service before.
As an extra tho, I got a PS+ code from an e-tailer... not comfortable giving my CC info away if I can avoid it, heh.
Flunk - Wednesday, February 26, 2014 - link
It doesn't matter how much content you get for the price, the plain fact is that there is still a pay wall for online multiplayer. One that only exists on PS4 and Xbox and not on Android, Windows, Steam OS or anything else you can play games on.nikon133 - Wednesday, February 26, 2014 - link
That is nonsense, of course it matters. I'm half way down my first PSN+ year, and I already got much more games for free (which I would definitely purchase otherwise) than my full year subscription is. I saved money by going PSN+.On top of that, I got handful of games that I would not necessarily purchase, but this way I got chance to try them for free as well.
Klimax - Friday, February 28, 2014 - link
Xbox Live will give you two games too and it was case for quite bit longer then with PS+. And those games will be yours even if you stop paying for service, unlike with PS+, where you lose access to them.B3an - Wednesday, February 26, 2014 - link
It was a rumour he wanted to sell off Xbox. Do you believe all the shit you read on the net or are you just stupid.BMNify - Wednesday, February 26, 2014 - link
Elop planning to get rid of xbox division was all rumours!! Why are people reacting on baseless rumours created by pseudo journalists/Tech bloggers to increase page hits.deathdemon89 - Wednesday, February 26, 2014 - link
I agree with this. If memory serves correctly, everything I've read about Elop wanting to get rid of XBox were rumors.On the other hand, "devices and services" also includes Surface, and I'm pretty excited to see what Elop comes up with on that front. Can you imagine a 2520-esque Surface running full 8.1? That would be sweet.
ToTTenTranz - Wednesday, February 26, 2014 - link
Get your facts straight.It was an article from Bloomberg, not a "baseless rumour created by pseudo journalists".
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-11-08/microsoft...
evonitzer - Wednesday, February 26, 2014 - link
Well, the other points stand. Bloomberg wants pageviews as much as anyone else, and that is a nothing article. "would also consider selling healthy businesses such as the Xbox game console if he determined they weren’t critical to the company’s strategy."Proving once again that the only way to be a (possible) CEO is to be boring and say absolutely nothing (even internally) or people will freak out. And then remember it for all time for future freak-outs.
Popolon - Wednesday, February 26, 2014 - link
It was also Macromedia CEO during 2005, one year before Adobe buy it. And was already at Microsoft before NokiaPopolon - Wednesday, February 26, 2014 - link
Does surface tablet 2 has at little success this year, because the version 1 was one of the biggest flops of the computer history.BMNify - Wednesday, February 26, 2014 - link
Well, this is what i found from latest Microsoft earnings report:"Surface revenue more than doubled sequentially, from $400 million in the first quarter to $893 million in the second quarter."
So, In another quarter even Surface will join the many Billion dollar businesses of Microsoft.
rahulgarg - Wednesday, February 26, 2014 - link
And not to mention, Nokia's handset divison will also come under Devices and Services.colonelclaw - Wednesday, February 26, 2014 - link
Sounds an awful lot like Satya has decided he wants rid of XBox. Who better to oversee it's exit?It's going to be a tough sell - it loses money overall and is coming a clear second in the latest generation.
amo_ergo_sum - Wednesday, February 26, 2014 - link
Remember the N-Gage and the N-Gage QD? Of course not. That's because Nokia only sold a handful of them. They were bought almost solely by phone reviewers who said the devices didn't work well as either a phone or a gaming device, or anything else for that matter. Bravo Mr Elop for your attempt to market to mobile gamers. Bravo M$ for choosing Mr.Elop who at least now knows what not to do... but might still try to do again anyways.ToTTenTranz - Wednesday, February 26, 2014 - link
Elop went to Nokia some 8 years after the N-Gage.. he had nothing to do with it...amo_ergo_sum - Wednesday, February 26, 2014 - link
Good to know. I stand corrected.amo_ergo_sum - Wednesday, February 26, 2014 - link
Maybe the execs realize the xbox one is a sinking ship and they're just putting someone there to take all the blame for Julie Larson-Green's failures and so she get's to keep her job while they'll have a convenient excuse to axe a overly paid Nokia guy. When in reality they should get rid of bofe o'vem and hire me who actually knows a thing or two about gaming and what gamers want, like mice and keyboards for fps' & LAN + dedicated private servers + modding tools + offline bots + persistent worlds, and Occulus support!!!RamarC - Wednesday, February 26, 2014 - link
why is grandpa running the division filled with newfangled stuff he can't figure out how to operate?Bobs_Your_Uncle - Wednesday, February 26, 2014 - link
It's because he's such a snappy dresser!(Think "accessories"; as in shoes) ; )