Report: Nokia CEO Elop's Clock is Ticking on WP Gamble

By Wolfgang Gruener
published

Nokia's chief executive Steven Elop could soon face overwhelming criticism that could threaten his position.

Following the launch of the Lumia 920 smartphone, there are now reports that Elop is running out of time and that he may only have a few months left to turn the company around. A Reuters article, which refers to information from "investors and analysts", states that Elop will have to show positive results in the first half of 2013.

The agency quoted Greenwich analyst Magnus Rehle saying that "Elop has not been able to attract customers and that is what counts. You can say that he has not had enough time, but he has been there for two years. Time is up."

It is reasonable to assume that analysts will be calling into question Elop's one-horse strategy to run with Windows Phone if Nokia cannot benefit from the Christmas season. Juha Varis, analyst with Danske Invest Finnish Equity Fund said that a possible move toward Android would mean that the Windows Phone strategy failed. At this point, he would have to step down, since "he's totally a Microsoft guy."

Such an event would also be a major blow to Microsoft, which reportedly has invested more than a billion dollars into its partnership with Nokia.

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Wolfgang Gruener
42 Comments Comment from the forums
  • killabanks
    please release a top end android phone !!! jump ship :D you got one guaranteed sale here if its running vanilla android
    Reply
  • Tomtompiper
    Android or Tizen(Meego) and I will buy, but until then no, no, never. If only the N9 had come sooner.
    Reply
  • tokencode
    In my opinion, WP is a nicer OS than either Android or iOS. Microsoft's biggest mistake was calling it Windows anything. The product is excellent, the marketing is not.
    Reply
  • Tomtompiper
    tokencodeIn my opinion, WP is a nicer OS than either Android or iOS. Microsoft's biggest mistake was calling it Windows anything. The product is excellent, the marketing is not.

    Being pretty isn't everything, proprietary solutions suck, must use Zune to load music and videos, Fail. Must recode music and videos to use on phone, Fail. Cannot bluetooth pictures to another phone, Fail..... the list is long, the Fail is obvious, the fact that even bribing people to take the phones they can't get above 5% penetration Fail.
    Reply
  • soo-nah-mee
    Give the guy a chance! WP8 is not even out yet.
    I plan on buying a 920 as soon as they are released to my carrier. More and more people are hearing about WP and if they advertise well enough, I think there is a very good chance that the platform will catch on and grow.
    Reply
  • ejb222
    First of all, this site is a huge example as to why WP doesn't have the exposure it should which also leads to a lack of educated opinions on the product. In the past month, 3 of the largest OEMs in smartphones release WP8 hardware and Toms did not write one article. But the moment rumours surrounding any negetive press etc, here we have an article. But not one note on the new HTC 8X or Samsung Ativ or even the Lumia 920. I'd love to see an article about all the Windows 8 devices that were revealed this month too. Where is the article on the 20" tablet from Sony? Where are the hands on reviews? does Toms even get invited to tech events...probably not. Maybe that is why there is no decent article on this site anymore. Thumbs down me if you want...but the facts dont change.
    Reply
  • mikolrayne
    Really feel kinda sorry for Elop. I personally find him a pretty decent guy, and he took over the company at a bad time. Hard to say if anyone else could do better than him. Personally I think the OS and overall build of Lumia 920 will be great. Can't wait for it to reach my carrier!
    Reply
  • gumbedamit
    Why is it taking so long from the time they announced it until we can buy it. Apple announced their iflop5, oops I mean iPhone five after Nokia, and it will be available tomorrow, the 920, sometime in November,,, WTF!.. I have a Dell Streak that needs an upgrade, looking at the GN2 and the 920, want to get the 920 depending if its out this year... did I say WTF already?
    Reply
  • dalethepcman
    tomtompiperBeing pretty isn't everything, proprietary solutions suck, must use Zune to load music and videos, Fail. Must recode music and videos to use on phone, Fail. Cannot bluetooth pictures to another phone, Fail..... the list is long, the Fail is obvious, the fact that even bribing people to take the phones they can't get above 5% penetration Fail.
    Are you on crack? You can use free music downloader app's from the wphone app store for music, or you can just drag items onto your skydrive and play them from your phone. The audio/video formats that the phone can use is substantial and nothing needs recoded.

    As for the inability to transfer files via bluetooth, this is more of a "pressure from the music industry issue" then a "lack of functionality issue." and there are numerous applications that were created that add this functionality to the phone if you really want it.
    Reply
  • tomfreak
    mikolrayneReally feel kinda sorry for Elop. I personally find him a pretty decent guy, and he took over the company at a bad time. Hard to say if anyone else could do better than him. Personally I think the OS and overall build of Lumia 920 will be great. Can't wait for it to reach my carrier!I disagree,he could have do much better by releasing an Android phone for Nokia until Windows8 phone is ready.

    Trying to stick his head on WP8 is not an good idea. Microsoft does not give Nokia WP8 exclusive. So why bother taking sides.
    Reply