Leave it to technology blog Engadget to publish a leaked internal memo that is said to have been written by Nokia’s newly appointed chief executive officer. According to the blog posting, Stephen Elop compared the struggling mobile phone manufacturer’s plight to that of a man standing on a “burning platform” and attempting to figure out whether to leap into icy waters.
"The first iPhone shipped in 2007, and we still don't have a product that is close to their experience. Android came on the scene just over two years ago, and this week they took our leadership position in smartphone volumes. Unbelievable." That’s just a snippet of what Engadget reveals of the roughly 1,300-word memo to Nokia’s employees.
In January, TechZone360.com reported that Nokia announced a decline in net profit for the fourth quarter of 2010 when compared to the same three months of 2009. The cell phone maker is also facing challenges that could have an impact on current sales.
When discussing the quarter, Elop suggested the company could make some changes on its strategy as it relates to ecosystems.
"In Q4 we delivered solid performance across all three of our businesses, and generated outstanding cash flow,” Elop added in a company statement. “Additionally, growth trends in the mobile devices market continue to be encouraging. Yet, Nokia faces some significant challenges in our competitiveness and our execution. In short, the industry changed, and now it's time for Nokia to change faster."
Net profit for the three months ending Dec. 31 was 745 million Euros ($1,021,841,794), which was lower than 948 million Euros for the same period in 2009, but came in higher than the 526 million Euros that had been predicted by analysts, according to a report from the Wall Street Journal.
Edited by
Tammy Wolf