Nokia's new CEO Rajeev Suri took the stage on
November 14, and mapped out the future of the
Finnish telecommunications giant after its phone
business got acquired by Microsoft.
First off, as sad as this sounds, and despite some
unsubstantiated rumors, Nokia doesn't plan on
making phones anymore. "We are not looking to a
direct consumer return to handsets per se," were his
actual words. Still, there is a silver lining, and it is
that there is an extremely high interest in licensing
the brand, he added, so at some point in the longer
term the Nokia name "will return to the consumer
world." Now, whether this will be with phones, or
other devices and maybe services, remains to be
seen, but the hopes that Nokia will quickly start
churning out Android handsets seems dead and buried now.
As for the other aspects of the company, the CEO
mentioned that it won't have its HERE brand of
navigation software compete directly with Google
Maps, but instead rely on third-party licensees like
Amazon, Microsoft or Yahoo, in business-to business partnerships. We'd say that with the release of the
beta app for Android and iOSthis ship had sailed, as
the app offers options lacking in Google Maps, like
offline navigation, but whatever rocks the boat.
Nokia's CEO expects that all three business units -
Networks, Technologies and the mapping business -
will be returning to growth and profitability very
soon, but it's the end of the line for Nokia phones
piece that strikes us the most in the end.
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