Nokia: 'We poured gasoline on our own burning platform'

A memo purportedly from Nokia CEO Stephen Elop to his staff has been leaked to the internet, and paints a stark picture of Nokia "standing on a burning platform".

The note, which was reportedly posted to an internal Nokia employee system, talks about how and why Nokia lost its way in the evolving smartphone market and notes that speed is now of the essence.

Using the story of a man who finds himself stranded on a burning oil platform in the North Sea as a comparable situation, Elop notes that, "We too, are standing on a "burning platform," and we must decide how we are going to change our behaviour."

FIRE FIRE

During the course of the memo Elop continues the firey metaphor, naming Apple, Android and cheap Chinese suppliers as multiple points of scorching heat fuelling the blazing fire around them, while also mentioning that Nokia "poured gasoline on our own burning platform."

If this is truly a message from Elop, he's not mincing words here; it's a frank and savage analysis of where the company has gone wrong.

When addressing how to claw success back, the memo also mentions the tantalising promise of 'joining an ecosystem' which was also alluded to by the CEO last month.

"Our competitors aren't taking our market share with devices; they are taking our market share with an entire ecosystem. This means we're going to have to decide how we either build, catalyse or join an ecosystem," says the memo.

Meego

Lamenting the lack of speed and urgency within the company, the memo also reveals that Nokia may only release one MeeGo device by the end of 2011.

"We have some brilliant sources of innovation inside Nokia, but we are not bringing it to market fast enough. We thought MeeGo would be a platform for winning high-end smartphones. However, at this rate, by the end of 2011, we might have only one MeeGo product in the market."

It's not all bad news from the Finns though, "We are working on a path forward -- a path to rebuild our market leadership. When we share the new strategy on February 11, it will be a huge effort to transform our company."

The major announcement coming from Nokia on 11 February is rumoured to relate to a possible partnership with Microsoft. But will these shake-ups be enough to transform Nokia's fortunes?

Via Engadget