After a scathingly blunt memo from Nokia Corp. CEO Stephen Elop to his troops yesterday, Nokia has abandoned plans to launch its new N900 MeeGo smart phone next week. It’s believed Nokia may launch a Windows Phone 7 device instead.
After comparing his firm to a burning oil rig, Elop didn’t mince his words on MeeGo. “We thought MeeGo would be a platform for winning high-end smart phones. However, at this rate, by the end of 2011, we might have only one MeeGo product in the market,” he said.
Rumors have been rife for months about whether Nokia might consider dumping its plans to power through with MeeGo, a joint venture between the Finnish phone giant and chip behemoth Intel. Analysts have been urging the firm to opt for Google Inc.’s Android, or Microsoft Corp.’s WP7, but Nokia has, until now, remained intransigent to the pleading masses.
Just last week Berenberg Bank’s Adnaan Ahmad sent an open letter to Stephen Elop and Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer asking the two to team up for the mutual benefit of both companies. As well as asking Nokia to forget MeeGo, Ahmad also recommended that Nokia dump Symbian, which has already been scorned by former partners like Sony Ericsson and Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
“Get rid of your own proprietary high-end solution (MeeGo) – it’s the biggest joke in the tech industry right now and will put you even further behind Apple and Google,” Ahmad advised Elop.
Indeed, developers have veritably shunned the operating system which was late to market and showed no signs of a solid app framework.
Intel Corp. was maintaining a stony silence this morning at news of its erstwhile partner’s apparent defection. We’re told the firm found out about the memo the same way the rest of the world did, by reading the leaked version online.
Many have been hoping for Nokia to team up with Google’s Android, but it seems that will have to remain wishful thinking after Google VP Vic Gondotra tweeted – in apparent reference to the Nokia/Microsoft team up – “Two turkeys do not make an Eagle.”
A spokesman for Nokia declined to comment.
