Nokia Lays Off 3,500 Employees

Nokia will be closing a manufacturing plant and restructuring other operations effectively losing an additional 3500 employees as the focus of Nokia’s attention turns to production of Microsoft’s Windows phone.

The changes are painful, yet necessary, and will turn Nokia into a "more dynamic, nimble and efficient challenger," CEO Stephen Elop said in a statement.

Click to expand...

Well, I think this is not the end of the restructuring and losing employees.... Going with a Windows platform for new phones was a bad idea, IMO.

krogen said:

Well, I think this is not the end of the restructuring and losing employees.... Going with a Windows platform for new phones was a bad idea, IMO.

Click to expand...

Have you used a Windows Phones 7? If you have, can you tell me why is it a bad idea?

Because it's competing with iOS and Android, both of which have a much larger market share already.

Only time will tell if it can be successful, but in the short term it doesn't look hot.

I'm one of them, and I can't wait.

The payoff people are getting is absolutely ridiculous and no-one I know has wanted to stay. The company is badly, badly broken.

bbqrooster said:

Have you used a Windows Phones 7? If you have, can you tell me why is it a bad idea?

Click to expand...

simple, I looked at Microsoft's Road-Map.

Windows Phone 7 isn't really Windows 7 derived. It is still Windows CE underneath with all of the underlying Windows CE problems. Let me put it another way: if you put a pretty silver bowl over strawberry-preserved scrambled eggs, you still only have a pretty bowl over something that not even dogs will eat. Windows Phone 7 CE can have the prettiest UI in the world. That doesn't change what it is underneath. A platform nobody wants.

Sales of Windows Phone 7 CE actually demonstrated just how much the market doesn't want the platform. After Windows 7 Phone CE went on sale, Microsoft's overall marketshare... DROPPED... http://thenextweb.com/microsoft/2011/07/05/microsofts-mobile-market-share-continues-to-erode/

What you may not understand is that Microsoft's total mobile deployment is measured in single digit percentages. LOW single digit percentages. As in 1% to 2%. And it FELL.

I'm also repeating myself: http://hardforum.com/showpost.php?p=1037686119&postcount=12

Now, looking to the future, Windows 8 is the ahem... "point"... at which Microsoft will begin to merge it's different versions of Windows into a unified kernel architecture. Unfortunately that is also when Microsoft is going to try and unify the interfaces. There are several very good reason why both IOS and Android/Linux have taken off in the consumer market that Microsoft simply does not understand.

One of those reasons is that neither Google or Apple bothered to try and manage traditional desktop user-interfaces with their mobile products. KDE and OSX offer loads of fully featured applications with intricate integration: http://api.kde.org/ http://developer.apple.com/library/mac/navigation/#section=Frameworks Most of those intricate integrated functions and capabilities are simply not needed on, or in, a mobile product.

Another reason is that IOS and Android/Linux ditch the traditional GNU operating system components and X.org Windowing systems used by their big desktop brothers for the sake of ease of use and recognizing that mobile devices have limitations. Granted Google's approach with application development for Android is a little bit more sane than Apple's, but hey, even Apple's Xcode limitation is still far more sane than the Metro limitation of Windows 8.

Speaking of Metro, it's a freaking complete disaster, period stop. The design, at least in the Windows 8 Dev Preview, is reminiscent of PlaySkool. User control and access is so hostile it makes Gnome look outright friendly.

If Microsoft stays on the path of trying to unify it's Desktop, Mobile, and eventually Xbox user-experiences, it's going to encounter user-backlash so vicious it will make the Vista backlash look like a sunny successful promotion.

The reality for Nokia is that Elop screwed up big-time taking the Microsoft bribe.

Saist said:

simple, I looked at Microsoft's Road-Map....

Click to expand...

My question was to krogen but you replied. I guess you are both Saist and krogen. You are nowhere near answering my question 'cause you wrote a lot of stuff but nowhere in there you said you have used a Windows Phone 7. You are the first one to tell me that one can judge a product by simply looking at a roadmap without actually evaluating the product. Nobody said Windows Phone 7 was based on Windows 7. Actually, it is silly to even think of putting a desktop operating system on a phone. Windows Phone 7 is built on the improved Windows Embedded CE kernel. If you insinuate that Windows Phones 7 is no good because it is associated with CE, I guess you can also say Windows 7 is no good because it is associated with Windows ME, 'cause software cannot be improved, right?. The market share reduction has nothing to do with Windows Phone 7. The reduction was due to the decline in Windows Mobile 6.5. Windows Phone 7 market share after 3 quarters of introduction mirrors the same 2% when Android was 3 quarters after introduction. It is pretty arrogant for you to say millions of people are nobody.

My question is still the same. If you have used Windows Phone 7, what particular problems do Windows Phone 7 have that make it a bad idea for Nokia to use it?

I have only heard good things about Windows phone 7, I think we are going to see the Nokia/MS collaboration backed by MS marketing take a chunk out of the driod/ios market. All of my favorite phones have been Nokia's they just do what there supposed to and work forever. Hopefully this will help Nokia.

From what I got reading Saist's reply is that Windows Phone 7 sucks because lots of people like OSX & Linux and that he doesn't like the UI in Windows 8.

Anyway, I've had a chance to play with one and I'm patiently waiting to see what these newer hardware models of WP7.5 (such as Nokia's) will be like. As the phones are now, I'm planning on getting one and putting this 3GS to 'car ipod' use.

bbqrooster said:

My question was to krogen but you replied. I guess you are both Saist and krogen. You are nowhere near answering my question 'cause you wrote a lot of stuff but nowhere in there you said you have used a Windows Phone 7. You are the first one to tell me that one can judge a product by simply looking at a roadmap without actually evaluating the product. Nobody said Windows Phone 7 was based on Windows 7. Actually, it is silly to even think of putting a desktop operating system on a phone. Windows Phone 7 is built on the improved Windows Embedded CE kernel. If you insinuate that Windows Phones 7 is no good because it is associated with CE, I guess you can also say Windows 7 is no good because it is associated with Windows ME, 'cause software cannot be improved, right?. The market share reduction has nothing to do with Windows Phone 7. The reduction was due to the decline in Windows Mobile 6.5. Windows Phone 7 market share after 3 quarters of introduction mirrors the same 2% when Android was 3 quarters after introduction. It is pretty arrogant for you to say millions of people are nobody.

My question is still the same. If you have used Windows Phone 7, what particular problems do Windows Phone 7 have that make it a bad idea for Nokia to use it?

Click to expand...

Nope, he is not me

I haven't used it. For all I know, it might be the best phone OS ever. But even if it is, it will be EXTREMELY hard for it to take a decent foothold in the market. Why? Because there are already two giants competing. I am talking about Apple iOS, or whatever the name is, and Android. Android is so well established at this point - it will be very hard to convince people to use something different.

You ask a typical Joe on the street what phone he wants for Christmas... I bet his conclusion will be an Android-based phone or Apple iPhone 5/4.

It's just all about the brand, fad, and whatever is popular. Nokia is not popular. Nokia's move to Windows phone will make it even less popular.

Bye, bye Nokia.

Anyways, to add a little more... I don't dislike Nokia. This is just how it is - the sad truths of reality.