Supporting Nokia Plan B

Here is a link to Nokia Plan B.

I support most of what these guys say. I was aghast at what Elop did last Friday and wish Nokia reverts back to Mobile dominance through home grown Software Innovation. They simply drifted along without improving Symbian, their takeover of Qt was hamheaded as they couldn’t make it sit on top of Symbian and Meego never took off. But all this doesn’t mean they can’t do software or that they should jump into Microsoft’s arms.

It is the North American market that has always troubled Nokia and to that limited end they could have had an alliance with Microsoft and could have easily retained their own platforms for flagship products with a promise to restart that innovation engine again.

Plan B guys say the same thing:

Restructure alliance with Microsoft as a tactical exercise focused primarily at the North American market. Release one or two Windows Phone devices under a Nokia sub-brand. Only if carrier acceptance, sales volumes and profit margins are satisfactory, consider releasing more WP devices and make them available in Europe. Windows Phone will not be the primary development platform for Nokia. The Nokia phones with Windows Phone operating system will simply take advantage of the existing developer tools and application ecosystem already put in place by Microsoft.

Having been in the mobile telecom industry for the last 6 years I must say I am disappointed with Nokia hiring Elop and Elop’s subsequent strategy announcements. By following a similar “very focused” strategy Motorola has turned into green but has rendered itself into a fringe player in the mobile world – a far cry from the leadership position it once dreamt of. I wish that doesn’t happen to Nokia but facts and history suggest otherwise.