Nokia Investors Throw Shares Out the Windows
Nokia CEO under gun to justify Microsoft switch
BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Investors have panned his shake-up strategy and employees are rankled. Now, Nokia Corp.’s Stephen Elop, the first non-Finn to lead the world’s largest maker of phones, is in a hurry to justify his decision to ditch the company’s smart-phone software in favor of a former employer’s, Microsoft.
He has a lot of ground to cover.
Nokia’s stock, which lost 14 percent after the Microsoft deal was announced Friday, fell by more than 5 percent Monday. Nokia employees showed their displeasure with the software switch on Friday, using flex time to head home en masse
Ok, so what do we take away from this quote from the Associated Press? First, that a former Microsoft executive has decided that Microsoft is the best development partner for his new company’s cell phone OS. Second, that the Finns don’t agree and came down with BSOD flu – they used flex time to shutter up the shop on a Friday afternoon like high schoolers getting “lost” on their way back to class from a pep rally.
Admittedly, Symbian is getting a little outdated. But it does what it’s supposed to do; hold your contacts and make phone calls. Of course, just everyone believes that “smart” phones are the wave of the future and what’s smarter than Windows? What indeed? Perhaps, the iPhone OS or Android.
Microsoft Corp. launched a new phone operating system, Windows Phone 7, late last year. Reviewers hailed it as big improvement over previous attempts, but so far it hasn’t made a dent in the dominance of Google’s Android software and Apple’s iPhone.
So the software is a big improvement over what Microsoft had before. Does that say more about how good it is now, or bad it was before?
Lastly, Microsoft is paying Nokia billions of dollars to switch to Windows Phone 7. That’s like walking onto a car lot and having the dealer ask you how much you want to take this car off his hands. Microsoft is a huge company. Their products are everywhere. Why should they have to pay a company to use their stuff? Maybe because it’s everywhere and people can see how “good” it is.
Nokia stock is back up, but it fell 14% on the initial announcement and another 5.8% on the following Monday. There’s a long road ahead, hopefully they can see clearly through the Windows.
