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Nokia’s take on Apple
For the past years, Nokia have been run over by Apple in the high-end mobile market. Their N95 came out around the same time as the iPhone, and it was touted as a direct competitor, even though most people who tried the N95 were more likely to wanting to stab themselves in the eyes. It was a horrendous phone, and from what I’ve read, the N97 and N8 isn’t any better.
With this in mind, it makes me happy reading the following from Financial Times about Marko Ahtisaari. It’s because of guys like Marko, Adam Greenfield and Jan Chipchase (who left recently) that Nokia can remain relevant in mobile market.
Read this:
“‘I still think the whole industry is missing a trick,’ said Mr Ahtisaari during a meet-the-press session in London yesterday. ‘All the touchscreen interfaces are very immersive. You have to put your head down. What Nokia is very good at is designing for mobile use: one-handed, in the pocket. Giving people the ability to have their head up again is critical to how we evolve user interfaces.’
Given humanity’s growing fixation with staring at glowing rectangles, any innovation that helps improve off-screen interaction really would be ‘social change’, as Mr Ahtisaari puts it.”
Nokia shouldn’t design for the iPhone-crowd. They’re already well on their way to losing that bet (if they didn’t already), but the mobile world is much much more than upbeat American college students — after all there are 4.6 billion mobile subscriptions and only 50 million iPhones.
Also, he points out that there’s a lot of potential in social data about maps:
That doesn’t mean Nokia won’t try to bring more “social” elements and personalisation into its own services. “I think as we move into the MeeGo platform, [there will] more and more layers of value above maps … and social data about maps – other paths that people you know have taken through cities.”
It’s in statements like these you can feel the importance of having great people in your company.
Whether Nokia will deliver or not, the future will show. It doesn’t look too good:
/via Nokia’s designs on Apple | Tech Blog | FT.com
— Comments —
1
Adam Greenfield, of course, is leaving Nokia as well.
2
Then maybe the book some of us paid a contribution to will be published sooner rather than later? 
3
That’s certainly the intention, yes.
4
Nice to hear it’s moving forward. Anyway, I’d gladly give you another $10 for keeping up the quality of posts on Speedbird, so it’s not because I feel scammed. I just look forward to read the next book.