News |

Elop's Burning Platform Memo Raises Expectations

Expectations are high ahead of a key speech Nokia CEO Stephen Elop will give to investors on Friday after a memo he wrote to Nokia staff was leaked.

Nokian uusi E7-puhelin pöydällä lehdistötilaisuudessa.
Image: Yle

Elop's memo compared the company’s situation to that of a man on a burning oil platform who decides to jump into the cold sea in order to save himself. Nokia's current situation is that of a man standing on a burning platform, and the company's actions have even poured petrol onto the fire, according to Elop.

The company must now take drastic action to save itself, and that could well involve metaphorically jumping into the cold sea.

Carolina Milanesi, Research Vice President at IT analysts Gartner, told YLE that Elop is under pressure to announce something big, partly because of the language used in the memo and partly because he needs to change the industry's mindset.

According to her, a partnership with another firm – such as a co-operation agreement with Microsoft involving their Windows Phone 7 operating system, or a switch to Google's Android platform – might not be enough to reassure investors.

In his memo, Elop reminded Nokia staff that Android only entered the market two years ago, and said its success was ’unbelievable’.

He went on to say that mobile communications was no longer a battle of devices, but of ”ecosystems” encompassing developers, applications, “developers, applications, ecommerce, advertising, search, social applications, location-based services, unified communications and many other things”, and that Nokia had to decide how to “build, catalyse or join an ecosystem”.

Discuss this topic

0 comments

Write a comment

Use a nickname. We don't publish comments using real names.

Stick to the topic. Only comments relevant to the subject will be published.

Your comment will be read by an editor before publication. We want to offer the opportunity for a well-reasoned, quality discussion including a variety of views. For more specific rules of the game, click here.

Reply this question. We want to make sure this comment is not generated automatically.

Kiitos! Kommenttisi on lähetetty Yle Uutisten toimitukseen. Julkaisemme kommentteja klo 07-23 välisenä aikana.

Yle Uutisten toimitus lukee kommentit ennen julkaisua. Asiattomia ja hyvien tapojen vastaisia kommentteja ei julkaista. Pitkiä kirjoituksia voidaan lyhentää, muuten kommentit julkaistaan sellaisenaan.

Thank you. Your report has been sent to Yle News. We review the reports between 9 AM and 5 PM.

Yle News will review the comment you reported and will delete it if necessary.

Latest in: News

Headlines

Our picks

Latest

Muualla Yle.fi:ssä