Nokia has seen some dog days since their transition into Windows Phone. From plummeting market shares worldwide, to declines in stock pricing, and an initial layoff not too long ago, what else can go wrong with our favorite Finnish company? Apparently, a lot more firing and restructuring.
In an attempt to trim the fat and temporarily halt the money Nokia is sieving, 10,000 workers were effectively terminated earlier today. In addition to workers pink slips, top Nokia execs were also fired and replaced by others within the company. Nokia announced it has appointed Juha Putkiranta as executive vice president of operation, Timo Toikkanen as executive vice president of Mobile Phones, and Chris Weber as executive vice president of sales and marketing. In addition, Tuula Rytila has been appointed as senor vice president and chief marketing officer and Susan Sheehan as senior vice president of communication.
What is truly interesting are the people who have stepped down in their managerial roles in Nokia; Jerri DeVard, executive vice president and chief marketing officer, Mary McDowell, executive vice president of Mobile Phones, and Niklas Savander, executive vice president of Markets. What makes these people interesting is that the three were heavily vested in Symbian, Meego, and Meltimi operating systems. Meltimi, billed as the OS that offers a unique Meego experience to low end handsets, has essentially been scrapped as has future development of Symbian and Meego.
After the announcement, Nokia stocks fell almost 20% to a record low in decades. Sufficed to say, a very bad day for Nokia, but what do you think? A bad day for Nokia is a good day for Windows Phone? Personally, this is a terrible day for Nokia and makes one wonder if Howard Chui’s questioning of Chris Weber recently didn’t have some merits in terms of short term marketing strategy. However, the firings and stepping down notes that any future developments of future OSes not named Windows Phone may not be happening in the forseeable future. Kudos for Windows Phone?
source: Nokia
