ok, let me start by putting this out there:

i’m a patriotic finn and i love (or loved) having one of our own being a global leader. but nokia has hit a rough patch and needs new leadership. so here’s my second big message:

i’ll take the job. ok, it’s true, i live in another country and i do have a job, but i’d definitely consider it, and i’m not even that hesitant about moving to finland. i’ve lived there before, and yes, winter there sucks (autumn is worse) but you survive it with central heating, sauna and hot chocolate. so here are some thoughts:

  • you have a situation where you’re losing the smartphone market but winning in emerging markets like india and china. the numbers are very different for the two divisions. my guess is that nokia doesn’t even know this. they need to split the two to see where they are making money, and where they’re losing money.
  • then, you can see the individual projects in the divisions and see their own profits and losses. now, you’re back in control of your own destiny, instead of being sent one way and another by the market forces. (on a side note, word from back home in finland is that shareholders there are trying to muster support to call for the ceo’s ouster. it’s not nearly as far along as media elsewhere is reporting. and they don’t seem to think the future for nokia is nearly as grim as it’s reported outside of finland.)
  • with this clarity, you’ve got all the info and you can decide when to cut your losses or when to double-down. the current path is continue business as usual, which is losing market share and shrinking dividends.
  • nokia needs to reduce product series and lines substantially. nokia has the e series, n series, x series and now the c series. are there really 4 distinct customer segments? to me, it seems clear that with work and personal life merging, there are at best two lines, low-end and high-end. most smartphones, even business-oriented ones, offer games now. the first category in the blackberry store is games.
  • and within these lines, you have overlapping models. look at the e series. you have e63, e71, and e72, all 3 blackberry-style qwerty devices. for each of those models, you’re paying for documentation, developer and customer support, warranty service, spare parts, and above all, marketing costs! that’s ridiculously duplicated efforts and spending.
  • i think the software also needs to be streamlined. you have symbian s40, s60 (with 5 versions), maemo and meego. pick 2, one for phones, and one for netbook/tablets. streamline the rest out.
  • finally, nokia needs to get lean again. reportedly, it can take nokia 3 years to deliver a new product. remember when the n97 was going to be the iphone killer? by the time it got released, it was behind the market.
  • ironically, nokia is also sitting on the biggest opportunity – it has the relationships, hardware capabilities, and software to deliver mass-market, low-end smartphones to its huge customer bases in china and india. maybe the c series is right for this, who knows.

so that’s where i’d start as ceo of nokia. i bet my salary expectations are lower than the candidates they’re considering, too ;-) you can hear more thoughts on nokia at the jeromecast.