Nokia had iPhone, iPad like products in late-90′s, were left to rot

Once the largest seller of cellphone, Nokia’s fortunes took a turn for the worse when it failed to respond to the iPhone challenge from Apple in 2007. Nokia’s executives initially dismissed the iPhone as a one-off product while it had a portfolio of products and could never accept that an “outsider” could come and ruin its entire game plan. That’s exactly what happened and today Nokia is going through a tough transition period as it tries to get its footing right. However, that wasn’t always the case. On the contrary, Nokia was working on iPhone and iPad like products in the late 90′s, much before Apple started working on its mobile products. The Finnish giant not only had a vision for a tablet but even a phone with a color touchscreen with just one button, according to Frank Nuovo, Nokia’s former chief of design and founder of Vertu revealed in conversation with WSJ.
The product, obviously, never shipped. Nokia’s corporate culture ensured it never did as multiple teams would compete internally to create different products, meant to address the same need or problem. Before Stephen Elop joined as Nokia’s CEO, the company had teams working on at least two different smartphone platforms – Symbian S60 and MeeGo. Both teams competed with each other to get the attention of the top management, which could also impact resource allocations to either project.
With such a culture, getting a product ready to be shipped to market would take much longer at Nokia than at other rival companies, which worked on a focused product portfolio. Nokia could never compete with the fast changing dynamics in the smartphone space, first with iOS and later Android. And that’s what Elop changed as soon as he took the reins.
After joining Nokia, Elop realized the self-destruction happening inside the company and understood that Nokia was not in a position to ship a competing in the market if it relied on its internal platforms. It would have taken too long and the company did not have that much time. That’s when he penned the now famous “burning platform” memo and joined hands with Microsoft.
The transition period has been tough for Nokia with its market value down 64 percent this year alone. Nokia has announced plans to lay off over 14,000 employees since Elop’s appointment and has also shut down many manufacturing and research facilities across Europe. Elop might be forced to sell some family silver to keep the company running and focused. Ironically, it sold off Vertu last quarter, Nokia’s luxury phone brand that was headed by Nuovo. Nokia will announce its Q2 2012 results in less than an hour, where it is expected to post a net loss with further erosion of market share.