Technology Is Like A Moving Train: The Story of the Fall of Nokia

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There is no doubt that Nokia is one of the oldest technology-based companies in the world. Founded in 1865 in the Finnish town of Tampere, Nokia has over the years grown to become a multinational company with over 100,000 staff across 100 countries of the world. As a matter of fact, Nokia once reported an annual revenue of about £23m.

The story of Nokia's prominence in the global telecommunication industry is very well documented. By 2007, Nokia had become the highest vendor of mobile phones in the world. In short, more than half of the mobile phones used in the world were Nokia products. To crown it all, Nokia phones were known for its durability, reliability, affordability, and long battery life.


As a way of maintaining its dominance in the mobile phone industry, Nokia acquired Symbian Limited, the developer of the Symbian Operating System (OS). This made the Symbian OS almost exclusive to Nokia phones as it continues to extend its market lead and success. Nokia, it would seem, was on top of its game and was prepared to withstand and defeat the fiercest of competitors.

But unknown to Nokia, one of the most brilliant minds that ever walked this planet was lurking on the sidelines, waiting for the perfect opportunity to displace it That man was Steve Jobs, the CEO of Apple Inc, whose ideas inspired the launched of the iPhone in the wake of 2007. The iPhone not only became the first smart phone built around multi-touch gestures, it was received with global acclaim. As of November 2018, over 2.2 billion units of the IPhone has been sold.

But the emergence of the iPhone was not really the nail in the coffin of Nokia, Google came into the scene with its own 'nonprofit' mobile OS known as Android. Google was ready to freely distribute their OS to as many phone manufacturers that cared to use it. Unfortunately, Nokia saw Google as a rival company and did not adopt Android. Moreover, Nokia couldn't have abandoned its own Symbian OS, which was by then exclusive to it, and replace it with an OS from a rival company.

Nevertheless, other mobile phone manufacturers such as Samsung, Sony Ericson, etc adopted the Android OS and effectively set the stage to displace Nokia. Apart from presenting mobile phone producers with a free OS, Google had an online store that made the free downloading and monetization of mobile phone applications very seamless. Before anyone realized what was happening, Nokia was already out of business, had bowed to the formidability of its competitors.

Today, Nokia has discarded its Symbian OS for the Android OS but it appears to be too late, too late to compete, too late to redeem the consequences of their resistance to change. But Nokia must have learnt a bitter lesson, that technology is like a moving train which will crush anyone that stands on its way and refuses to ride with it.



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20 comments
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Wow I had no idea that Nokia was that old. And I got to say while I don't have much hope for Nokia you can't really count anybody out that's willing to dedicate to the blockchain.

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Yea Nokia is quite old and has been around for over a century now. Sure, the blockchain could be the next big thing. Thanks for stopping by.

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Wooo friend @gandhibaba, great read for me, I was always a Nokia fan. When things were going well in Venezuela my phones were always Nokia, thanks for bringing me memories of when our purchasing power was good hahaha.

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I am glad you found this piece worthwhile and that it invokes in you some nostalgic feeling. Cheers!

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Nokia is a good phone, the only mistake they made was going Windows instead of adopting android, maybe that's why they are looking into the blockchain although Samsung is there already.

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I agree with you entirely. Nokia ought to have paid more attention to competition. Thanks for stopping by.

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Nokia still believes in Windows anyways, they now produce phones that uses both windows and Android Operating systems.

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I have a Nokia from the year 2004, and it still works. I recharge it sometimes. It is a wonder how Nokia lost all its competitive advantages. It is still a legend.

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No doubt, Nokia is a very strong phone and it is sad that the company lost to competition. I hope you can still enjoy your Nokia phone for a bit longer, perhaps for the next couple of years. Cheers!

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I didn't know it was such an old company. It is a shame that it did not adapt to the change, I had several Nokia phones and I can guarantee how good they were, their battery life was excellent, their camera was of great quality (in fact I think it was classified as the best available for cell phones and used a glass lens that was produced exclusively)

Now that I remember, I think that seizing a format or system and not sharing it was the same as Sony did with the Betamax and that led to the failure against the format of domestic videotapes in VHS, the latter could be used by many manufacturers and although at first it had a lower quality and a more voluminous size, because it ended up winning thanks to the large number of equipment producers and the agreements they achieved for the distribution of tapes for domestic consumption in VHS.

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Thanks for your excellent perspective on this subject and for stopping by.

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(Edited)

Hello dear @gandhibaba.

I'm sure you had a nokia, right?

Who had one of these teams can only give compliments.
Do you know who is a Nokia fan, even today? Well, our friend @crypto.piotr.

This anecdote that you have brought us shows that you can be a champion in what you do, but if you do not adapt to progress and evolve, you will be destined to fail.

You say Nokia adopted Android belatedly. It is true. But I assure you that a good Nokia phone will always have fanatical potential buyers.

Thanks for sharing. I found it a pleasant read.

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Hello great friend @Juanmolina, sure I had a Nokia green light screen with an antenna before switching to their white screen and then Symbian. Nokia was a mad fun. And I am glad that you and @Crypto.Piotr are fans of Nokia. Like the saying goes, change is the only permanent thing.

You say Nokia adopted Android belatedly. It is true. But I assure you that a good Nokia phone will always have fanatical potential buyers.

There is no question about that. Even I could still buy a Nokia phone. Cheers!

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Nokia could have learned this lesson about technology from one-time CEO of Chrysler Motors, Lee Iacocca: "Lead, follow, or get out of the way."

It's too late for me to upvote this post, so please accept this slice of !PIZZA instead.

Posted Using LeoFinance Beta

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