My journey into the rise and fall of Nokia

Nokia

My journey into the rise and fall of Nokia

It was hard to believe... but in August 2000 we were a team of 34 people focused on developing and commercializing technological platforms for cell phones with mobile internet. And we had a horizon of enormous innovative business possibilities ahead due to the fact that we worked in a large company established in the global market. Oops... did I say established?! I'll come back to that point.

  Nokia was the name of the company, where I worked for 12 years. The aforementioned group was called MIA (Mobile Internet Application). Have you ever imagined what it was like to work with mobile Internet 25 years ago? In Brazil, cable or dial-up Internet was still a luxury for few. And there I was, with 33 other crazy people investing our careers in something challenging, innovative and bold.

I once saw an interview with music producer Clide Davis who said... "the best achievement in life is to love your work. There is no greater reward, to not count hours, not work nine to five, not when it's midnight or 02 :00 a.m. and you're still working, and know that you're energized by it. It's love, baby! You do the thing that you really love to do and you carry on". That was exactly how we felt. At least on that particular project.

Software engineers, application developers, designers, financial analysts, salespeople... all focused on innovation. We were located in the Nokia Networks division responsible for selling cellular networks. The other division was NMP (Nokia Mobile Phones) which was exploding selling cell phones and didn't want to divert its attention to other things. 

Together with the research center in Helsinki and Dallas, we were able to make incredible and very practical advances with pioneering efforts to launch:

SMS platform

Wap Platform

Photo message

Video call

Ticket selling apps

touch screen

Modern operating system

In the BCG Matrix concept, MIA was a "Star" consuming a large amount of financial resources, the majority of which came from NMP through the sale of cell phones.

The organization's pressure for its own and immediate financial results placed the MIA team in a stressful atmosphere, incompatible with an environment of innovative productivity. We were unable to sustain this situation and the company's management decided to discontinue the group worldwide.

Shortly after, I went to work at NMP as portfolio and technology director. We couldn't handle cell phone purchase orders. After the launch of the iconic N95 smartphone, it became impossible to address any other issue other than the production and delivery of cell phones.

The year 2007 was a watershed year for the cell phone segment. Apple launches its first model. A medium-sized device, straight, flat, colorless, without curves, without fashion or emotional appeal. Totally contrary to the fashionable cell phones and smartphones that had catapulted Nokia to its 54% global market share.

But there was something that at the time, we didn't notice in the Apple cell phone: an intuitive product/user usability (UX) that later revolutionized the market. At that time, Apple was changing the segment's key competitive success factors. Exactly as reported in the book Blue Ocean by W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborhne released in 2005.

When the size of the competitive obstacle planted by Apple became evident, Nokia had two big problems to solve:

  1. Its mobile operating system (Symbian) had to be replaced with a more powerful one that supported smartphone applications and quick commands. One solution would be to adopt the Android OS launched by Google;

2. Quickly develop technological advances that would allow a product/user experience compatible with that presented by Apple. Everyone thought: of course, MIA can make a difference in this context! However, the innovation and mobile technology team had already been dissolved more than 5 years ago. An abysmal gap when it comes to technology.

Neither one thing nor the other was done. The rest is history...

Returning to the point at the beginning... An established company (with a growing market) and innovation (which doesn't even need to be disruptive, but enough to put the current "cash cow" in check) are practically incompatible under the same organizational direction. A very few companies are able to do both with independent management, separate physical headquarters and distinct staff. But the challenge remains enormous.

Have you ever heard the phrase? "Has your business grown as much as it needed to grow? Or do you already know how far it can grow? So, it's time to kill it!"

But I prefer Darwin’s subtlety and simplicity: “It’s not the strongest of the species, nor the most intelligent, that survive; it’s the one most responsive to change and adapt quickly."