Kallasvuo said in an Yle interview on Saturday that the decision to sell Nokia’s Devices and Services unit to Microsoft felt ‘dramatic and emotional’.
“I have a lot of personal, emotional bonds with Nokia,” said Kallasvuo, who was the company’s CEO from 2006 to 2010. “This is also industrial history, and a quite significant and difficult decision for the Nokia board.”
When Kallasvuo left the company in 2010, Canadian Stephen Elop was appointed to replace him. Elop arrived from Microsoft before abandoning Nokia’s own smartphone platforms and switching to Microsoft software, eventually selling the entire phone business to his former employer at what has been described as a ‘notably low price’.
"Elop no 'trojan horse'"
Despite the links with Microsoft, Kallasvuo has no truck with a so-called "trojan horse" theory about Elop’s tenure.
“That would definitely have been noticed,” asserted Kallasvuo, who says that current assurances about jobs remaining in Finland after employees transfer to Microsoft can be believed--but that Finns should keep a watchful eye on the company to make sure they are fulfilled.
Kallasvuo’s time at the helm was dominated by the rise of Android and iOS to become the major smartphone platforms. Kallasvuo eventually paid the price for his failure to find a suitable response.
“Now when you look, those two really dominate,” said Kallasvuo. “It was really difficult to answer that threat. Symbian was an old operating system, and new solutions compatible with it were technologically difficult. That was one reason the decision in 2011 (to focus on Windows) was made: it was felt that it’s not possible to continue with Symbian.”
Nokia became "self-satisfied"
Kallasvuo does not believe Nokia was arrogant, preferring to use the term "complacent"—a very common attitude among large companies, according to the former CEO.
“In successful companies it’s easy for things to start to feel comfortable,” said Kallasvuo. “It reduces the appetite for risk-taking and innovation. It’s like this in every successful large company, and it is difficult to fight against it.”
Kallasvuo worked at Nokia for a total of 30 years. He believes he did his best when he led the firm, despite the company’s decline and everything that means to employees and to Finns in general.
“I have mixed feelings,” said Kallasvuo. “On the one hand I’m unsatisfied that all the goals were not reached, but I am satisfied that I did my best.”
