Phew! Stephen is out!
Walt: You had to deliver some bad news yesterday. Stephen: Yes, but we have to move forward and make sure there is a strategy moving forward and stick with that.
Stephen: Symbian was at a deficit in some markets. We said, with Symbian it's going to take us too long to get where we want to go. It's crufty, it takes too long to change. To modernize, to take that forward, what does it take?
Stephen: I went to Nokia knowing there were challenges. I went there planning on moving towards MeeGo. We looked at Android, we looked at Windows Phone — but I decided when I sat down with the head of Symbian, he said we can put a great product into market in a third of the time it will take with Symbian.
Walt: What did he say about Android? Stephen: There were a lot of questions with how much control we would have, changes down the road... differentiation. Walt: But a lot of people are selling Android. Stephen: We felt we could differentiate better with Windows Phone.
Walt: Even though Microsoft is taking more control over the look and feel of this mobile OS. They're taking more of a Apple approach. How do you conclude that you can differentiate really well? Stephen: By entering into a different kind of relationship with Microsoft. Other OEMs are doing their best and first work with Android.
Walt: So you struck a deal, and they gave you more freedom? Stephen: Yes.
Stephen: Who do we have to differentiate from? Not Samsung's WP7 phones — we have to differentiate from Android and Apple.
Well we missed a bit because some gentleman just walked up to us and started chatting while we were typing. Thanks random guy.
Walt and Stephen are talking about how Nokia will take the WP7 platform forward more than other OEMs, but they have to proceed in a way that won't fragment the platform. It sounds like the Nokia team will be the main source of big changes in the platform — an interesting concept.
Stephen is talking about the fragmentation of Android and how much partners can really contribute to the OS. Microsoft offered another option where they could directly input and grow the way they need to to create great products.
Walt: Leo this morning said he wants to be number 3 — I would guess it's the same with Windows Phone? Microsoft needed a deal with someone who did hardware and software well... and suddenly you were coming to that decision independently?
Stephen: Microsoft had a need for someone to do their best work for Windows Phone — the other side is that Nokia needed a partner for software. Both companies looking for something, and together that's very powerful. Our mapping and location services will become part of the Windows Phone ecosystem.
Stephen: Both companies will decrease expenses and increase profit from this deal.
Walt: There have been rumors that Microsoft is going to buy your hardware arm. Any truth to that? Stephen: The rumors are baseless. There is absolutely no truth to it.
Stephen: It doesn't make sense. You'd have to take a company like Nokia and you'd have to descale it and deleverage it to make it profitable.
Walt: What about these Chinese companies who make these phones? Stephen: There's incredible competition there, that's true.
Walt: When will you ship your first Windows Phone? Stephen: We're making very good progress. We expect them at the end of the year. Walt: In time for holiday sales. Walt: Can you show us what it will look like?
So, Stephen just pulled out a phone, then put it back in his pocket. Total tease. We saw nothing.
Walt: What was that? That could have been a piece of plastic. Livebloggers, note that.
Stephen: In the first launch you'll see the first device, but then a whole family of devices. We'll be at many price points all over the world.
Walt: Why do you have no presence in America?
Stephen: We used to have a huge marketshare. When you're big, you tend to get comfortable. When flip phones started getting popular, Nokia had no interest in making flip phones... and we started to slip.
Walt: Customers and carriers wanted flip phones, and Nokia said forget about it? Stephen: Nokia said we're a market leader, and we're playing on a global stage...
Stephen is painting a picture of this perfect storm of Nokia's declining influence and the iPhone. He says North America is now the leader in innovation for mobile.
Walt: When you say you're launching Q4, is it a global launch? Stephen: We're not revealing that. Walt: But the US will be included. Stephen: We're not talking about that yet. Walt: Interesting that you're not saying the US. Stephen: We're not saying anyone yet!
Walt: Let's talk about the landscape. What about RIM? Stephen: I have huge respect for RIM, from my Microsoft days. But it's no longer a war of devices, it's a war of ecosystems.
Walt: And Apple has one, Google... what about RIM? Stephen: Well, I'll let them answer that. Walt: No I'm asking you. Stephen: Well look at some of their recent announcements... Bing for search, Maps... very consistent with the decisions we made as well.
Ha! Stephen and Walt are talking about Nokia knockoffs!
Stephen is talking about being in Shenzhen and seeing these crazy products. "I bought my son an iPhone running Android."
Stephen: But when you walk those shops in China, there's clearly fragmentation taking place. That's always been the challenge in the mobile industry.
Stephen: J2ME had the same problem. This was always the case. There were 72 different versions.
Walt: Let's talk about tablets. You had a few, they were slow, confusing...
Walt: Are you getting into the tablet game? Stephen: I'm not going to announce one today, but I want to make a point. Whatever device it is, that connected digital experience will define what consumers are looking for. For a company like ours, it's obviously very important to make sure we're playing in that space. Walt: So you will have a tablet. Stephen: We'll have to address that space. Walt: So you will have a tablet: Stephen: We'll have to address that space.
Q&A time!
Q: What are you doing with MeeGo? A: We'll ship a MeeGo device this year.
Q: How do you please the consumer and the carriers as well? A: That's a really good question. Apple has a certain attitude about carriers, standoffish. Android has its own take, a lot of money flowing back to the mothership. We have a unique relationship with carriers... as it related to network traffic, our goal is to drive network traffic down.
Q: If Android is high volume low control, and if Apple is high control and lower volume strategy... how is your strategy not a tweener strategy? A: The critical way of being in a leadership position is to deliver what consumers and partners are looking for. Now you saw earlier with Windows 8 how that can extend across platforms. That can drive developers and therefore applications. We want to create an environment that stokes innovation.
Continuing... Q: But how do you differentiate to developers? If your special sauce is the connection to the desktop experience... you tried that with Windows Mobile... A: Well that's one connection, there will be more... and remember, we have Nokia's hardware here. It's innovation in hardware that will contribute to the quality of that ecosystem.
Stephen: One thing we didn't talk about, and I want to close off on this. There's been a lot written. The point I wanted to close on here is: I was in China last week, dealing with challenges. I met with the mayor of Bejing. He presented me with the art of war, the book. And one of the things it says is "believe in yourself" and we believe in ourselves at Nokia. It's a difficult time, but we're looking forward to it.
Walt: But you've got to make the customers believe in you. Stephen: Absolutely.
And that's that!
We're outta here. For drinks.
Thanks for reading! We're going to go find Stephen and look at that secret phone.
