My Thoughts On Nokia Handset Unit Sales to Microsoft - In Short: Is Bad WAY to Sell Something and thus gets you bad bargain

Ok, in less than two weeks Nokia will hold its extraordinary shareholder meeting, where the shareholders are to decide if they approve the sale of Nokia's handset business to Microsoft. The meeting is in Helsinki on 19 November 2013. Here are my thoughts about the sale. The quick version - this is a bad WAY to sell something. Nokia's handset unit is not this bad, it was deliberately damaged by the past CEO who got paid a bonus for causing the damage. You don't damage what you want to sell, you make it attractive before you sell it. Secondly, this kind of deal should not be done in secret, Nokia should invite open bids. Thirdly, the two parts are NOT of value to Microsoft, only one part is. Why package the two. Why not sell them separately, get a better price for the package. So now the details:

WHATS AT STAKE

If the handset unit sale goes through, Nokia will shrink so much, it will fall out of the Fortune Global 500. The primary business left would be the networking business (what used to be called NokiaSiemens Networks) that competes with Alcatel-Lucent, Ericsson and Huawei, providing telecoms networking technology to the telecoms operators/carriers around the world. This business is not very profitable, Nokia has posted losses in the unit for most of this decade. Nokia has its navigation/mapping business which is small compared to the rest (and has mostly been unprofitable). Then Nokia would seek new businesses but the sale of the handset unit to Microsoft places long prohibitions so that Nokia cannot make handsets to compete with the unit that Microsoft has bought.

Oh, the price is 5.44 Billion Euros ie about 7.35 Billion US dollars (that amount is divided so, that about 3.8 Billion Euros is for the handset business itself, and another nearly 1.7 Billion Euros for various patents rights for at least ten years). The sale is for all of Nokia's handset business, smartphones and dumbphones.

What do I think?

First. We know now, for a fact, that past CEO Stephen Elop while at Nokia, had in his employment contract a bonus clause, that paid him 25 million dollars if the Nokia handset business was ruined so badly that it was sold to Microsoft. This is a very VERY dramatic conflict of interest. We know secondly that Elop has made numerous destructive decisions that damaged Nokia - Elop himself admitted at the Nokia 2012 Shareholder Meeting for example that his Burning Platforms Memo had damaged Nokia smartphone sales.

We have seen numerous times that the Nokia CEO had acted in ways that damaged Nokia handset business and even overruled his own staff in ways that damaged Nokia handset business. Elop for example refused to let the most highly regarded Nokia handset of all time, the MeeGo based N9, be sold in any of Nokia's biggest markets. The Best-EVER Nokia phone was refused by the CEO to be sold in Nokia's biggest and best markets. That is acting against Nokia's best interest. It was indeed acting to damage Nokia handset business. He refused to let its sister phone - which Nokia manufactured - the N950 also on MeeGo - be sold anywhere. While Nokia was generating a loss, and these highly desirable premium phones were highly profitable, that is clearly acting against Nokia's best interests. When Nokia own senior staff argued in favor of Nokia offering QWERTY based smartphones in its portfolio, because 40% of Nokia's smartphone customers at the time had them and preferred them, Elop again overruled his staff and refused those to be sold. When Nokia's own surveys said that the number 1 thing Nokia existing loyal smarpthone customers asked for in their next smartphone was a better camera, Elop refused to let good cameras be put on the first Lumia phones, they had worse cameras than contemporary Symbian smarpthones! Elop insisted that the Lumia 920 camera, which was not anything of 'Pureview' technology as defined by Nokia's own White Paper, was suddenly called Pureview, helping ruin the reputation of that major leap in camera tech pioneered by Nokia with the 808 which had real Pureview, etc. Only with the Lumia 1020 that was now released when Elop was removed from CEO position, did the Lumia series finally have a camera as good as last year's best Symbian smartphone by Nokia. Elop made actions that seemed to be in Microsoft's favor while damaging Nokia, such as the decision to announce Microsoft's Windows Phone platform in February 2011 when Nokia had no phones to show or sell - this caused an 'Osborne Effect' collapsing Nokia's smartphone business overnight falling by half in five months - a world record collapse. But Microsoft benefitted greatly from this, because Windows was collapsing in the market place at the time and was down to 1% market share by the time Nokia's first Lumia smartphones were launched. And so forth.

I do not need to go on. It is clear that from the behavior, that Elop was pursuing actions that helped him gain his 25 million dollar bonus, rather than helping Nokia succeed in the handset business. This is a fact, all evidence proves that Elop took strongly growing Nokia handset business that was strongly profitable, and wrecked it starting February 2011. The evidence is 100% consistent, Nokia's own quarterly reports pinpoint the moment in time, when ALL Nokia smartphone division numbers reversed. Nokia strong growth in units, turned into decline. Nokia strong growth in revenues, turned into decline. Nokia strong growth in profits, turned into losses. All that happened in February 2011, and has been a disaster since, until now. The cause was Elop and his 25 million dollar bonus and his rampage to demolish the Nokia handset business.

Because Nokia's chairman, Risto Siilasmaa, when interviewed by Finnish press, initially did not think that Elop's contract was any different from those of his predecessors as Nokia CEO, Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo and Jorma OIllia, but it had this dramatic suicide-pill in it - pay Elop 25 million dollars if he manages to destroy Nokia's handset unit - I think the Nokia Board has not been fully aware of what their CEO is doing or why he is motivated to act so. Whatever secret contracts that Elop or Siilasmaa have been making with Microsoft - with the above history - these are suspicious at best.

YOU DON'T DAMAGE THE PART YOU WANT TO SELL, YOU FIX IT FIRST

With that, I think it is utterly wrong, for Nokia to proceed now with this current deal with Microsoft. We know for a fact, that ex-Microsoft executive, Stephen Elop, acted to destroy Nokia's handset business - and was paid to do so. Now they try to sell that wrecked business - to Microsoft. This is not the way to sell the best part of your business. Nokia's smartphone unit alone - less than half of the handset business - in 2010 when Elop was hired (and given that contract in 2010) - the Nokia smartphone business alone would have been a Fortune Global 500 sized company and was so strong, it would have generated Fortune 150 sized profits!!! That is before we add nearly as much from Nokia's 'featurephones' unit on top.

Lets take Elop out of this. We know that for whatever reasons, and however it was achieved, the current Nokia smartphone business is a wreck. You don't sell wrecks. You clean up the property before you sell it. If Nokia wanted to sell its smartphone business, the fast and easy way to make it much prettier - is to ANNOUNCE that Nokia will introduce those Android phones that Nokia had started secretly to develop this year. Nokia can sell them next year, I believe at the end of the year, around November, the contractual obligations of the Windows deal should expire. So let Nokia's new CEO introduce Android smartphones next year. 1 - Nokia share price will jump - Nokia shareholders should be happy about that. 2 - Nokia will attract far more interest among buyers. 3 - Microsoft will freak out, it will panic, and Microsoft WILL OFFER A BETTER DEAL for the Lumia unit alone! and 4 - if more offers are entertained, Nokia can get a better deal where it doesn't have to quit all of the handset business.....

WHY SELL ALL OF IT - THIS AGAIN IS NOT IN NOKIA'S INTEREST BUT IT - IS - IN MICROSOFT'S INTEREST

Secondly, does Nokia really want to sell ALL of its handset business (regardless of whether this is Microsoft of not). No, of course not. The reason the whole package includes all smartphones and all dumbphones, is because Microsoft set this deal up, and because it was done in secret, so Nokia did not invite open bids. This is bad business practice. In Finnish: Huonon liiketoimintatavan mukaista. Any normal CEO would act differently.

Microsoft does NOT want to sell dumbphones under the Nokia brand, because those dumbphones do not use Windows. The only reason Microsoft wants the 'featurephones' unit in addition to the Lumia unit, is because Microsoft fears sales contests where a lousy Lumia device is next to a new cool Asha 'featurephone' under the Nokia brand. Microsoft does not want Nokia dumbphones. Why package them together. Someone else WANTS to buy the dumbphones unit!!

While we are on it, why is the Nokia handset brand included in the deal? Why not do as Rolls Royce did, when it sold its car business. It sold the Rolls Royce factories and the Bentley brand to Volkswagen, and sold the Rolls Royce brand to BMW. Why not split the two - ESPECIALLY because Microsoft has no use for the Nokia brand, ten years from now there will be no Microsoft Nokia Lumia phones running Windows. There will maybe be Microsoft Lumia phones or more likely Microsoft Windows phones, but the Nokia brand will be gone on Microsoft-owned phones, soon. Why not separate the two? The Nokia brand was the world's 8th most valuable brand on the PLANET before Elop started to destroy it. It still is highly valuable brand in Africa, India etc. Some handset maker like Huawei, Lenovo, ZTE etc might want the Nokia brand to help capture big slices of the African, Indian etc markets (Africa alone has more people than USA, Canada, The whole European Union, Japan and Australia, combined; India is even bigger by population than Africa..)

If Nokia shareholders really want to sell their handset unit, then this is not the right way to do it. Not through a deal negotiated in secret, when there is PUBLIC notice from rival tech companies, that they would be interested to bid on Nokia assets!!  If Nokia shareholders wanted to sell the handset unit, it should be split, so that the smartphone unit is separated from the dumbphone unit. I would bundle the Nokia brand with the dumbphones unit and the Lumia sub-brand with the smartphone unit.

Furthermore, I think it would be better if Nokia only sold part of that. Why all? Why not only sell part of it. Sell the dumbphones unit alone. Include a 3 year exclusive right to the Nokia brand in Africa and India and say Middle East in the package. Keep the smartphone unit, launch Android phones on it next year, and watch how the Nokia smartphone unit returns happily into profits. Then - in 2015 - if the Windows Lumia unit of Nokia smartphones sells far less than the Nokia Android smartphone unit - then sell that Lumia unit to Microsoft. They will still pay 5 Billion Euros for it then, because we know, Microsoft is desperate.

PROBLEM IS NOT NOKIA, IT IS WINDOWS

The problem Nokia faced past 3 years with collapsing smarpthone sales is not that Nokia suddenly forgot how to make great phones - many of Nokia's phones have been very highly rated during this period including the N8, E7, X7 and 808 Pureview on Symbian, the N9 and N950 on MeeGo and several of the recent Lumia models. The problem was Windows and Microsoft. Elop HIMSELF said so, that the carriers don't like Microsoft - because Microsoft bought Skype. Its not that operator refuse to sell smartphones that have Skype - they hate Microsoft because it OWNS Skype. So they will not support Microsoft phones to the same level as they support for example Android phones. I did not invent this, Elop admitted it at the 2012 Nokia shareholder meeting. Some carriers even refuse to sell ANY brands of Windows smartphones - said Elop to Nokia shareholders. We have heard from Windows phone partners that they have no demand for Windows so they are shifting more to Android like Samsung, Huawei and HTC have done.

WINDOWS IS POISON

Did you know, that LG went once fully Windows-only in smarpthones. That caused its profitable smartphone unit to turn unprofitable, instantly. And only after LG ended Windows and went to Android, it was able to make profits again? Did you know that the Sony (ie SonyEricsson) handset unit once was making Windows smartphones, but was unprofitable, and it abandoned Windows, went to Android, and is now profitable. The first-ever Windows partner, HTC once made 100% of its handsets in Windows. Today 4 out of 5 HTC smartphones sold runs on Android. Samsung also makes Windows smartphones, but its Windows smarpthones are less than 1 in 10. Android is the way to go for Nokia now. Just announcing Android smartphones will increase Nokia share value instantly, and just announcing Android smartphones will make Microsoft revise its offer - upwards! Microsoft is desperate for Nokia not to end Lumia Windows sales. Microsoft desperately needs this unit to continue to make Windows. If they want it, make them pay for it. Dont' sell them the 10 year patent rights, don't give them the exclusive rights to Nokia handsets and brand! Nokia is not the desperate seller here, Nokia was deliberately damaged by Elop and he is now gone. Nokia is already starting to fix itself. For the past 4 quarters, Nokia smartphone sales collapse has ended, Nokia smartphone sales have stabilized. Any sensible CEO who has no contractual clause to damage Nokia, can easily turn this handset business back to profits - knowing full well, that the first thing you do is STOP DRINKING THE POISON of Windows.

While we are at it, The new CEO should seriously consider rushing those 2 actually manufactured MeeGo devices (N9 and N950) that Nokia was manufacturing - and introducing them with whatever is the latest/last MeeGo OS version. And then rush into the market the other 2 MeeGo devices we know existed (the N9-00 and the original non-crippled MeeGo variant to the Lumia 800). These are no longer cutting edge hottest phones ever and cannot be sold for 500 or 600 Euros, but they are still very compelling mid-range phones that Nokia can make in its factories - that are IDLING - and rush to markets where they were not sold but who wanted them like the UK and Germany. If offered alongside the Lumia Windows devices, the MeeGo smartphones were always rated BETTER. Why not sell them now? They will not restore Nokia to 20% market share, but they will sell in several millions, definitely, and with no royalty due to Microsoft, they are INHERENTLY more profitable to Nokia than the Lumia series. Just introducing the MeeGo devices - and selling in the say 250-300 Euro range - they are quite competitive and reasonable mid-range products, while we await the new flagships on Android to arrive for Christmas. Nokia could put the N9 and N950 back into production now, and start to sell them by the first quarter of 2014. Again, just announcing that the MeeGo based N9 and N950 will 'finally' be released in the UK, Germany etc, will boost Nokia's reputation and share price - especially if the new CEO also says, he will develop Android smartphones. (And no, obviously the CEO should not announce the end of Windows, just that he will bring Android alongside Windows). Remember, its not that Nokia phones are bad, its that there is resistance by the carriers/operators to sell Windows based smartphones. So said Elop, so said LG, so said Huawei, so said Sony, so said HTC, etc etc etc. If Nokia offered anything that is not Windows now, it will instantly sell better. Because Elop is gone, the carrier-community will rush to help Nokia recover, they want Nokia to be Nokia and make phones, they don't want Microsoft to make the Nokia phones in Microsoft Evil Empire bullying style.

Let me emphasize one point here. Nokia OWN staff were in the press, and Elop HIMSELF said he had over-ruled them on the QWERTY type of hybrid phones, like for example the N900 and the E7, phones that have both a full touch-screen and a slider full QWERTY keyboard. 40% of Nokia smartphone users in 2010 had smartphones with some type of QWERTY on it (others were the Blackberry style). Since Elop refused to let such phones be made, but there is a big demand, and Nokia sensible management (the ones without the 25 million dollar bonus to destoy the handset business) were arguing for this, then Nokia should really do that. The N950, even though it would be two years old by now, if we just update the software and add some memory, is a HIGHLY desirable Nokia-branded, Non-Windows smartphone that has QWERTY. There is a HUGE pent-up demand of loyal Nokia users of QWERTY smartphones who would rush to try it. And a HUGE pent-up demand of loyal Nokia users who refused to buy Windows smartphones, who would rush to try it. And also a sizeable market of first-trial Lumia users, who are disgusted by Windows but still like their past Nokia experiences, who would be willing to try it. The N950 alone, will sell - I guarantee it - 2 million units per quarter easily for a few quarters, if priced at 300 Euros. And If Nokia could sell the sister phone, the N9 for about 500 Euros and with high profits back in 2011, then because of Moore's Law, the costs of those components have shrunk, and the price of manufacturing it would have fallen, the N950 today would easily be profitable at 300 Euro prices. And with literally more than 50 million Nokia QWERTY-owning Symbian Nokia smartphone owners out there, who have hoped and prayed for a newer QWERTY style smartphone, just this one model will help restore Nokia's smartphone division to profits.

Oh, one more thing - Jolla! Apple's iPhones are not manufactured by Apple. They - all of it - come from Foxconn and made in China. As Nokia now has the crisis, of producing Lumia Windows smartphones, that are under sales boycott worldwide - operators don't want them - but Nokia loyal smartphone users want Nokia branded smartphones - why not do like Apple? The new CEO should immediately negotiate with Jolla of Finland (the guys who worked on the MeeGo based phones in the past, and departed with Nokia's blessing to go launch their little handset-maker company) and as Jolla is not overburdened (yet) with huge demand for their products, hire Jolla to produce Nokia's 2014 flagship phones - cobrand them as Nokia Jolla !! have Jolla make them. Using their OS which is called Sailfish, which is the latest evolution of what was then Nokia's MeeGo. So obviously also the other older MeeGo phones should use Sailfish OS (the latest version of MeeGo, so to speak) and the beauty is, that in most cases, Sailfish OS is so clever - it runs most Android apps NATIVELY... So instantly, Nokia's full MeeGo phone line is 'Android-compatible' in first Quarter 2014, as Nokia awaits its own full-Android phones to come on line, towards the end of the year. And Jolla - as long as they get co-branding, should be VERY happy to act now as Nokia's 'outsourced' factory - haha, think about that, a giant company with factories in China and India, doing its outsourcing from a company based in Finland haha... But yeah, it really wouldn't matter one iota, what price you set on the Jolla-Nokia phones now, if you bring them to the stores, and they are truly 'Nokia' branded and they truly are 'not Windows' - there will be a BIG market for them. Whether that is 'only' like 4 million per quarter like the last non-Elop flagship was, the N8 by Nokia, or maybe better because the industry has more than doubled in that time - who knows. Nokia doesn't need to make big profits out of this, they just need to show, they are back in the game and have a new flagship - which is 'not Windows' haha... That is an instant success story. And Jolla people will love it, if they are helped to get their sales channels opened, when this partnership would end, they can continue from there selling premium Jolla smartphones, just without the Nokia co-branding.. duh. Easy-peasy.

This deal offered Nokia shareholders was prepared in secret and on terms that are very much against Nokia's best interest. If you do want to sell your handset unit, then FIRST fix the damage that Elop caused. That will take at least 6 months, that Nokia can wait. Then INVITE BIDS !! The silly thing is to take half your company and sell it in secret. We KNOW there are other companies who would love to buy Nokia or parts of it. Thirdly, if the handset unit is sold, it is VERY LIKELY to bring a bigger amount, if sold in two pieces, not one. And lastly, Nokia should consider not selling all of its handset business, rather only sell a part of it.

Thats my take..  Good luck to Nokia shareholders in that meeting. However this turns out, at least the cancer of Elop is gone and Nokia can now recover to something new. 

Comments

[Mike]

I actually agree with you for once Tomi.

Is it possible for Nokia to sell Lumia then buy say Jolla??? As they carried on from Meego that would be an ideal return to native OS. (dont get me wrong i quite like WP8 - i got a Lumia 820, but the restrictions and rediculousness that microsoft imposed in so annoying)

I dont understand why the Nokia shareholders have been so complacent while Nokia has be torpedoed. Surely anyone associated with Elops special clause could have been forcably removed for acting against the companies best interests.

It just doesnt make any sense that there has been no action, is everyone just sheep these days trusting such people not to line their pockets and stab you in the back.

By the way Tomi, do you ever read comments on here, Iv never seen a reply or acknowledgment (could be wrong)

[dunno]

Tomi has no idea about modern smartphones if he praises those Nokia phones.
WP8 shits on them big time, but both WP8 and Meego is missing an ecosystem.
Nokia could hardly fix that on their own Microsoft is doing the right thing.

Also ask the Nokia board about that Elop bonus, Elop just did what he has been asked for.

[Thomas]

According to the deal terms, 32,000 employees are transferred to Microsoft and Nokia can't use the Nokia brand on mobile devices for a few years. Does Nokia retain the rights to MeeGo or are they sold with the rest? Does Nokia retain any smartphone personnel or manufacturing capabilities after the sale? In short, would relaunching a MeeGo line of devices really be a viable strategy?

"As part of the transaction, Nokia will grant Microsoft a 10 year non-exclusive license to its patents as of the time of the closing, and Microsoft will grant Nokia reciprocal rights related to HERE services. In addition, Nokia will grant Microsoft an option to extend this mutual patent agreement to perpetuity. Of the total purchase price of EUR 5.44 billion, EUR 3.79 billion relates to the purchase of substantially all of the Devices & Services business, and EUR 1.65 billion relates to the mutual patent agreement and future option.

...
Microsoft has agreed to a 10 year license arrangement with Nokia to use the Nokia brand on current Mobile Phones products. Nokia will continue to own and maintain the Nokia brand. Under the terms of the transaction, Microsoft has agreed to a 10 year license arrangement with Nokia to use the Nokia brand on current and subsequently developed products based on the Series 30 and Series 40 operating systems. Upon the closing of the transaction, Nokia would be restricted from licensing the Nokia brand for use in connection with mobile device sales for 30 months and from using the Nokia brand on Nokia's own mobile devices until December 31, 2015."

[Tomi T Ahonen]

Hi Mike, dunno and George

Mike - thanks for mentioning Jolla. I had initially meant to add that part, I forgot as I was writing the blog, I now added my thoughts about it (pls re-read the above, am sure a deal can be made that helps both Jolla and Nokia now)

About answering - haha, yeah, when we set up this blog with Alan Moore, we didn't expect the traffic we now have, and we pledged to reply to every comment. For many years we did that. Recently its become impossible, we get more than a million visitors per year and very heavy level of comments as you can see.. I still read absolutely every comment, and really enjoy them. I try to reply to some, definitely not all, from time to time..

dunno - so you've never tried one if that is what you say. I would delete your comment as a Microsoft troll but you then admit that Windows Phone doesn't have an ecosystem so I trust you are a sensible person so I'll let the comment stand. As to MeeGo missing ecosystem, as so does Windows Phone as you pointed out, MeeGo can't really do worse, if its branded the same Nokia and sold in same channels and the devices are similar in specs etc. The relevant point that you ignored, is that there is an active boycott against Windows Phone devices by the carriers/operators. For those operators/carriers at least, who sell other Nokia phones - Asha featurephones for example - for them any MeeGo devices now would be the answer they have been looking for. I am not suggesting Nokia build its future on MeeGo, I suggest they can sell them now, in one Quarter, if they wanted, because they are ready, have been designed, would be made in Nokia factories that are idling, and while not cutting-edge, also Apple sells older iPhone models quite successfully just cutting their prices. MeeGo models would be a stop-gap step now, to help boost sales numbers and prepare for the Android shift. By the way, apps developed with Qt for MeeGo would also run natively on Android..

George - I trust you haven't used it to say that. And please note, I added a comment about the N950 - that would be now Nokia's flagship non-Windows device.

Thanks for the comments, please keep them coming

Tomi Ahonen :-)

[Vikram]

Have to disagree with Tomi and also partially agree.

- If Elop had made Nokia a success he would have made far more than the 25M that he gets for leaving Nokia in the MSFT deal. There is no sneaky conspiracy here

- MeeGo's own technology leader said that it wasn't competitive with Android or iOS and wasn't ready to be so in the short term. MeeGo just wasn't good enough. Again, the guy running it said so.

- I agree that going to Windows exclusively was a mistake looking back

- I completely believe that if Nokia put out Android handsets that they would overtake Samsung. Nobody likes Samsung and people still love Nokia - Still! - Nokia still means great design and quality hardware

- I agree that they should still try to get a better price and go try some Android handsets

- I blame the prior leadership and the board much more than Elop - they left him with a ship with a bomb about to blow up in open water. The burning platform memo may have put fire to the ship, but it was already about to sink. The same thing happened to Blackberry. What killed Nokia was not having a iOS/Android competitive OS and Nokia didn't have the software chops to deliver it.

[Winter]

@Vikra
Going WP was seen as a mistake AT THE TIME. The stock price collapsed the next day as investers saw the deal for the disaster it was.

[WonTheLottery]

@LeeBase
"At least you're consistent. Nokia good, Msft bad"

The sales of Windows Phones proves that to be true, NOKIA are the only company capable of selling them. What happened when Samsung put Windows Phone on the same excellent hardware as their hugely successful Android phones? They tanked of course (heck, even Samsung's Bada outsold Windows Phone until they pulled the plug on it). When given the choice of the same hardware running Android or Windows Phone the overwhelming majority choose Android.

And you know what makes it worse? Android isn't even that good! In fact it's really shockingly mediocre, it's just the best of a very rank bunch.

[Mindy]

Personally I agree wholeheartedly with Tomi about the sales potential of a Nokia or Nokia Jolla branded smartphone with a sliding QWERTY keyboard running Meego, Sailfish or Android. If they came to the market with a phone like that, I'd do anything to buy it as soon as it came out. Almost no matter the price, even though I normally consider paying over 300 Euro for a smartphone way too much money. When I see something I need to have and it's good quality and meets my demands perfectly, I am willing to pay more than I can strictly speaking actually afford. I just spend less on something else for a while to make up for it. I might go as far as 600-700 Euro for such a phone.

For me the must-have phone would have the following:
- designed by Nokia or ex-Nokia people and produced under their management (Nokia as a part of Microsoft won't count): the only people I trust to be able to combine durability and usability with good features on a phone. Drop an Asian phone, throw it in garbage as it's beyond repair. Drop a Nokia phone on your big toe and it's your toe that breaks or at least gets seriously bruised (tested long time ago, left me walking with crutches for a week).
- full QWERTY keypad which slides open. I like seeing what I write and two-thumb typing on keypad is faster than typing on touch screen. Less hitting wrong letters as well as the physical keys are more in proportion with the actual size of adult fingers.
- Preferably Sailfish OS or Meego. Sailfish is Android-compatible without actually being Android, so I won't be as annoyingly tied to Google as I would be on Android. Probably it would be more secure and less prone to malware than Android, which is famous for its crappy security. I hate the way I'm so tied to Microsoft on my Lumia and I wouldn't want to get tied to another American giant either. The ecosystem so valued by one of the American fanboys in the comments a couple of posts ago (ie. all key services under one provider) is what I hate. I want to be able to mix and match and use whichever services I like from whichever provider I like instead of being forced to use services I don't like because they just happen to be the ones tied to the ecosystem. I value my privacy and the less tied I am to a single big American corporation, the better. Sailfish is open source and European, so there is at least a chance that there are no NSA backdoors built into it.
- touch screen of course, I've grown to like it when I surf the Internet or use the navigation apps etc. I just don't like it as the only input option when typing something. I can't see what I've written because of the virtual keyboard and it's annoying.
- nice camera, wouldn't need to be the ultimate camera but the better the camera, the nicer a bonus it would be.
- Detachable battery. Never had a phone without a detachable battery and never gonna buy one either. No detachable battery = no way of forcing a reboot when the phone freezes on you and does absolutely nothing. Also when you drop your phone (happens to me about every 2 days), the kinetic energy of the fall is used for a large part into separating the different parts from one another, thus protecting your phone from damage.
- SD card slot.
- Nokia navigation apps. I LOVE THEM!!!!!!
- Being able to install Angry Birds on it, I just love those crazy birds and I'm so proud they're Finnish. I don't really need any other games than just Angry Birds in different versions. A sudoku or some word games might be fun too, but that's the extent of my interest for gaming on the phone.
- surfing the internet and connecting to known WiFi networks with the ease that I now experience on my Lumia. That's the one and just about the only thing which is truly better in Windows Phone 8 than it was on Symbian.
- Possibility to do the following which I was able to do on my old N97 with Symbian (and to an extent in my old dumbphones too) and currently unable to do on the freaking Windows Phone 8:
- choose the volume for different sorts of sounds independently of one another. I went to the sauna at my gym the other day. A couple of years ago I used to put my phone in silent mode with the exception of alert sounds. I could enjoy the sauna knowing I won't be disturbed by calls but I knew thanks to the alert when I had to start getting dressed to be out of the sauna on time. Now I just had to leave the phone on and anyone could have disturbed me by calling.
- have the timer start running when I want it and having it run exactly the number of minutes and seconds I want it to.
- choose myself where I want to store my files on the phone, preferably even choosing to install some apps on the SD card. It drives me mad that I have plenty of space on the SD card but I have to pick and choose very carefully which apps to install. Installing 1 new app if it's a bit bigger app will require me to discard 1 or more old ones (some of which I actually find worth keeping).

I keep hoping and dreaming this will once be an actual phone available on the market. I want the phone of my dreams!!!!

[Giacomo Di Giacomo]

Yesterday morning, at work, I made an instant poll with the other 3 people who were in the room. I asked: "Who would buy a Nokia Android phone, if it were available?". Two out of the three people said they would immediately. 50% of the sample. It's not a very significant sample, but it does have some significance nevertheless. Out of the four people present, two (the ones who said yes) are currently using a Nexus 4, the third one a Galaxy Nexus, and the fourth one (i. e. myself) a Nokia 808 (currently my 603, since my 808 is being repaired) and a Zopo ZP100 clone (running Android). This means that, if a Nokia Android phone were available, the Nokia share would boost from 20% to 60%.
As I keep saying, though, you do not need billions of Euros to make a Nokia Android phone. Take that pretty Lumia 625 and port Android to it. All you need to change is the front glass silkscreen. And, while you are at it, also license Sailfish and port it to the same hardware (or have Jolla port it, they would be more efficient than bloated Nokia). Then take the Asha 500/501/502/503 and port Symbian (yes, Symbian) to it. That is a perfect smartphone for emerging countries. Symbian runs happily on those phones given a little more RAM (they have the same specifications as an 808, except for RAM amount) and they would sell for the same cheap price (since no royalties are required), with all the features of a Lumia and something more (like real multitasking).
These are just examples. Anyway, anything I can think of is better than selling the division to Microsoft. If it really were in the interest of Nokia, the feature phone division would not be sold, since there is no reason to do so. However, the board were very confident that the sale will go through, which leads me to think that Microsoft has secured enough votes. I also noticed a significant increase in Nokia share value lately, which could mean that somebody is collecting stock from the market, maybe to get voting power in the next shareholder meeting.
Finally, a bit of conspiracy theory. Nokia was the only major smartphone producer whose products were not under American control. The fall of Nokia has been incredibly fast and caused by apparently incredibly stupid choices by its CEO and BoD, which went on for years despite evidence. NSA spied people through Google, Apple and Microsoft. Jorma Ollila seems to have heavy responsibility in the choice and support of Elop. Jorma Ollila is a member of the Bilderberg club. The Bilderberg club has its main headquarters in the USA. I am not a fan of conspiracy, but I see lots of coincidences here.
In any case, EU or Finland must step in and block the deal. Nokia is a major asset for Finnish economy and for European technology. It cannot be left to destruction because of a bunch of people. Tens of thousands of Nokia employees (mainly European) will be left without a job once the WP project folds down or is downsized (which will happen, since the only reason for which 99% of Lumia phones are sold is the Nokia brand and not Windows, and the Nokia brand will be soon removed from them).

[Mikko]

"Someone else WANTS to buy the dumbphones unit!!"

I wonder. Take a look at the rate the Nokia dumbphone sales are declining: a decrease of 19 million units year-on-year in the last quarter. It's not a reflection on the quality of Nokia's products, but just the fact that in a couple of years, dumbphones will be about as great a business as landline phones are today.

[ashok pai]

what are the finnish people doing ? the government ? the shareholders ? if they are quiet about it then, nothing can be done about this dastardly move by elop and microsoft. what do you do when the people are resigned to such corporate hustlers like elop ?

[Kevin P]

I have to question, is there really a big market for QWERTY smartphones? It's kind of an article of faith among Meego fans, but based on the evidence I don't think it's actually true. Motorola, HTC, Samsung, Sony etc all used to make QWERTY android phones, but as far as I'm aware none of them have released a new one in the last year-and-a-half or more. Even after they've seen that all their major competitors have left that segment and they could easily take the whole "QWERTY android" market for themselves, they're still not interested. As far as I'm aware, the only company that's launched a keyboard smartphone in the last year is BlackBerry, and their sales were disastrous (although to be fair that's not necessarily due to the keyboard; nobody wants the Z10 either). There might have been some low-profile launches from minor manufacturers, but none of them have seen any serious success.

Surely that tells you something. These guys aren't stupid, and they're locked in fierce competition, doing anything they can to grab market share from each other. You can bet that if they thought they could make money selling a phone with a physical keyboard, they'd fall over themselves to make one. Basically I think that Elop's decision to block plans for a QWERTY model was perfectly sensible, and that even if Nokia decided to relaunch the N950 or a QWERTY Jollaphone it would be an even bigger flop than Windows Phone.

To anticipate the obvious response: yes, there are still millions of people still using QWERTY on Symbian or Asha phones, but when they upgrade to a more modern smartphone they buy touchscreen phones, not QWERTY. Part of that is because there are few/no new QWERTY smartphones, but manufacturers used to make these devices and have all but stopped. Why? The only reasonable answer must be that they weren't selling enough to be profitable, and there's no reason to think that Nokia would do any better in this niche than Motorola or Samsung.

[zlutor]

yet another synergy: http://mynokiablog.com/2013/11/08/jolla-uses-here-platform/

Not so surprising decision, anyway...

[zlutor]

@Mikko: "a decrease of 19 million units year-on-year in the last quarter" - natural consequence of falling brand name (beside the fact world is moving from dumb to smartphones).

But it would be much less if Nokia were flying like before. Decline is inevitable but it will stabilize at some point. Smartphones are not the solution for all problems: there are areas where long battery life, durability and some - limited - Internet access is needed/enough...

On the other hand I do not know whether separation would be good idea. You know, just like in case of Volkswagen: they have the common brands (WV, Skoda, Seat) that benefit from the premium brands (Audi, Porsche, etc.) of the big company...

I think Nokia should not do anything but include(!) Android into the portfolio and they are on the track quickly. Customer would decide... :-)

On the other hand after reading such news like this - http://digiday.com/platforms/google-tracking/ - I do not really want to use any Google device/service any more. It seems Google does not pay too much attention to our privacy... ;-(

So, go Jolla, go! :-)

[gjw]

"Nokia's handset unit is not this bad, it was deliberately damaged by the past CEO"

You make it sound as if Elop is out already, but he still is Nokia's CEO, right?

[zlutor]

@gjw: No, he is not the CEO any more (there is an acting one). Elop is head of devices department 'only'...

[foo]

Unrelated news -- but interesting for those following the mobile OS wars:

===== Android Is Gaming’s Future, And The One OS To Rule Them All, Says Nvidia CEO =====

Nvidia has some side bets on Surface and Windows RT, but Android is the really exciting OS of the future, according to CEO and co-founder Jen-Hsun Huang on an investor call today to discuss the company’s latest financial results. Huang pointed to the Shield as its means of furthering the growing Android gaming ecosystem, but games are truly only one part of the picture for Android’s bright future, he believes.

Android’s potential goes beyond gaming into virtually every corner of connected living, however, says Huang. Tegra’s presence in automotive systems and set-top boxes, data centers, all-in-one PCs and more make it the perfect platform for the future, Huang noted, calling Google’s mobile OS “the most disruptive operating system that we’ve seen in a few decades.”

http://techcrunch.com/2013/11/08/android-is-gamings-future-and-the-one-os-to-rule-them-all-says-nvidia-ceo/

[Winter]

@Leebase
"well, he can't exactly say iOS is the future of gaming if Apple isn't buying Nvidia's chips"

The fact he is willing to say it will not be WP is telling us a lot about how the mighty have fallen.

There was a time that companies made public apologies for having dared to show a Snapdragon netbook running Android instead of Windows.

Microsoft strikes back at Linux netbook push
http://blogs.computerworld.com/microsoft_strikes_back_at_linux_netbook_push

The very next day, Asus' chairman, Jonney Shih, after sharing a news conference stage with Microsoft corporate VP, OEM Division, Steven Guggenheimer, apologized for the Android Eee PC being shown.

Also:
http://www.linux-netbook.com/video/snapdragon-based-asus-eee-pc-running-android

[Giacomo Di Giacomo]

Baron95, it is the second time you post this bullshit. Usually your posts are not worth a reply, but I will provide my opinion on this.
1. Nothing is done in secret? The deal has been announced after having been signed. Nokia will have to pay a fine if it pulls back.
2. and 3. How many groups have enough money to do this? How much time has been given to consider this? External bidders, moreover, have the extra charge of the fine to be paid for breaching the deal with Microsoft.
4. Nokia is not Blackberry, and we are not talking about competing with Google but cooperating with it.
5. Yes, they got a share price bump after the post-Elop fall. How great. They got a special dividend which will not compensate the past and future dividends lost because of Elop, and those that would come in the next years from Nokia selling Android phones.
Tomi is emotionally involved but most of what he says is true. Unlike you, who are also emotionally involved in bashing Tomi, but usually with bullshit.

[Willebra]

There is the Nokita memo -group, but they have little time to gather the required financing.

Then there is also the convertible bonds Microsoft got. Don't know the exact terms, but if the 1,5B euro (or in that range) is not repaid soon, then Microsoft gets a big chunk of Nokia, possibly becomes the biggest shareholder. So it's not an easy walkout.