Chiefs talking about heat

A brave and bold CEO is on the move. I wish he knows what he is doing.

http://www.engadget.com/2011/02/08/nokia-ceo-stephen-elop-rallies-troops-in-brutally-honest-burnin/

Nokia’s CEO Stephen Elop is:

• Not a Nokia veteran
• Not Finnish
• Not a relaxed person within his company
• Headed the most profitable business unit of Microsoft (Of course, I am talking about Microsoft Office)
• Paints the reality to the rest of his Nokia team.
• Trying to regain market share of this giant 140 year old company

After reading the memo transcript, my thoughts got re-winded immediately to a note related to Microsoft’s Chief Software Architect Ray Ozzie in 2008 (Wired Article: Ray Ozzie Wants to Push Microsoft Back Into Startup Mode).

Microsoft was set out to reach their customers, more often than their year long product update release cycle (whether the customer liked a new release or not). After couple of years this change, we are still paying more for two fat products that Microsoft is making most of its money (Windows and Office). So they haven’t been able to crack their problems with just software sales. They are now into the cloud and adding services as one of the key revenue generator.

Intel is trying to capture the growing mobile market and working hard to get its processors into the mobile phones. After being too complacent with the desktop/laptop market, it did realize that there will be more mobile phones than traditional computer systems. This recent statement “We must build, catalyze or join a competitive ecosystem” from Elop, after a year long partnership with Intel, could mean trouble with Intel alliance and a death to MeeGo, but that thought would get answered in due course.

I think both Nokia and Microsoft are working on the same problem. While Microsoft has taken this step couple of years ago, they are still working harder to get their market share in the Cloud, SaaS and the next generation models (mostly around social and convergent computing). A healthy and value-adding ecosystem of products (hardware and software) along with services (PaaS & SaaS) will eventually become a great pay-off to Microsoft and Nokia.

Coming from Microsoft, the Nokia’s CEO is trying to renew the partnership with Microsoft. I hope that they two do well together.

My thoughts:

• Core of Apple iOS and Google Android comes from Unix, which gets hidden by the ecosystem built around the same. So, in a way though these platforms are Linux variants, they don’t have the spirit of Linux in them.
• MeeGo on the other hand is a true Linux variant supporting native application development using the super fast and close to processor technologies (Of course, I am talking about the raw C/C++ power in the phone).
• Intel and Nokia have been working on MeeGo for a while now. Nokia must release a MeeGo based product as soon as possible (and before its too late for MeeGo to see the light).

Takeaways:

• Change is the only constant and knowing when to change is very important.
• Constant market study, agility and self-introspection without ego are crucial.
• Leadership is needed to push people out of their comfort zone and help them succeed in making the company grow.
• Transformation is not a easy task.
• It takes good engineering team, that takes advantage of customer insights and  minds, to turn-around a company selling Software and/or Consumer Electronics.
• It takes a team, willing to stick around, stay together, be bold and creative, to endure and get out of tough times.