Until September 2010 I must have been one of the most outspoken and enthusiastic Nokia fan around. The future was great, the future was bright, Nokia was embracing open source and promised to migrate from the somewhat aging Symbian OS to the open source Meego operating system for its upcoming devices. The day Nokia announced that an 'Ex'-microsoft manager is to become the new CEO of Nokia was more than just a shock for me. How could an 'Ex'-Microsoft manger possibility continue with open source!?
The day of the 'burning platform' memo marked the not quite unexpected but still abrupt end of my Nokia fandom. Meego and open source to be abandoned and to be replaced by a closed source Microsoft Windows Mobile, you can't imagine a more drastic 180 degrees in a company strategy and what I would have liked Nokia to do for me. 5 years later Nokia is no more, bought and destroyed by Microsoft and now completely written off from their books due to a complete failure to make Windows Mobile a success.
While I don't mind that Windows is not getting a foothold in mobile it's a shame Nokia and its great ideas withered away. While most of the tech press has already written of Nokia the smartphone company, my favorite mobile analyst Tomi Ahonen has three great scenarios for Nokia the smartphone coming back but not as a Microsoft subsidiary but as a part of Nokia the network infrastructure company. Microsoft wants to get rid of what's left of Nokia mobile while the original and still existing Nokia wants to make a comeback in mobile. Based on lots of insight and historical knowledge it's a brilliant piece of analysis of what could now happen. I just wished those in charge would listen and show dome good sense, at least this time…