Post date: Nov 02, 2017 3:43:55 AM
Windows Phone was declared dead about a year ago, now it is dead and forgotten. Anything we talk about now is in retrospect but what is really itching me is that this was quite apparent to industry people like myself (see below). I assume that insiders are smarter and have more information than I am and I do so my only answer is that all parties concerned were just out to milk the cow until it died. Selling Nokia to Microsoft would kill the Nokia business but at least would prolong the life of the business. Nokia jobs were lost in 2014, http://www.reuters.com/article/us-microsoft-employment/microsoft-to-cut-18000-jobs-this-year-as-it-chops-nokia-idUSKBN0FM1EH20140717. and so it was a count down until the whole business was shut. It is just sad.
At the time Nokia adopted Windows Phone, Nokia was still leading the field. The problem it had going forward was the competitiveness of its products given the aging Symbian system. Was it then an existential threat to Nokia? Only the Nokia insiders know that but whatever the case, it adopted the wrong solution to the problem.The answer has always been for Nokia to either push Meego or adopt Android. I remember Steve Elop saying that Nokia did not adopt Android because he was not convinced that they could give enough value to their products. Immediately this didn't make sense. Windows Phone needed to be licensed, Android didn't, so if Nokia couldn't add value to an Android phone, it would add even less value to a Windows Phone. I loved Nokia products and still have fond memories. RIP.