Nokia’s difficulties….

Elop is turning into a disaster. If you need the details of why read this devastating post. http://communities-dominate.blogs.com/brands/2011/06/will-the-real-stephen-elop-please-stand-up.html

The authors theory of what has happened to Nokia can be summarised as;
1) Start of 2010 Nokia was struggling to bring out S^3 and previous iterations of Symbian were not competitive on touchscreen phones.
2) Nokia looked for a new CEO – Elop looked at what was going on and decided that they should stop throwing good after bad and end of life Symbian (this is before he got the job). He gets the job.
3) Symbian^3 comes out on N8 – to the surprise of neutrals in the industry (and evidently Elop) – although late (by a year) it is actually competitive (not withstanding TR’s pre-written review etc) and starts to give Nokia momentum.
4) Sales of N8 are great – for the first time in years Nokia has a hit smart phone. Nokia’s average selling price rises by 15% – which is unprecedented for them in recent times.
5) Elop sees it soon becoming impossible to go through with his original plan due to the N8 success. And here he makes his fundamental error (and why will be debated for some time I guess). In the notorious Feb 11 press conference he announces the end of life of Symbian 12 months before he has a successor WP7 phone. Quite naturally all momentum is stopped dead in its tracks and Symbian sales nose dive. Elops burning platform indeed occurs due to his “Ratner” moment. Nokia sales tank (look at their Q2 results) and they lose 50% share value.
6) MS then buys Skype which sends the carriers even further against Nokia (deep integration of Skype? Unless you’re 3 no thanks very much!) WP7 now looks less attractive (to carriers which is the most important customer base)
7) He is now back tracking furiously (Symbian goes onto 2016, N9 is announced, Qt is for S40 etc) but has he managed to completely trash Europe’s once proud flag bearer of hi-tech equipment?

Sad fact is he should have re-assessed what was going on and hedged his bets. No plans survives contact with the enemy etc. Announce intention to build a WP7 by all means on Feb 11, many manufacturers have multiple phone OS products – but you have a hit on your hands with N8 and Ovi store has been growing steadily. A developer evolution to Meego with QT was credible and compelling. If come the time you actually have a WP7 phone that is well received – and perhaps Symbian/Ovi/QT is not developing as an eco system – kill it then. But NOT before you have an alternative product to sell. That is business school 1.01 and no doubt it will be an interesting case study in the future. MS paid Nokia a lot to go “all in” on WP7 but did they pay them the $6bn of lost smartphone sales (estimated in the above post) in the past 2 quarters??

I confess interest in that I have a N8 and I am delighted by it. It is definitely a competitive touch screen OS – in some ways it is miles ahead, in others it could be better – so I am not saying it is the best OS – but it is (was) competitive. So I find Elops decision on Feb 11 very strange and did not recognise his memo for the truth (at the time – it is of course true now). I suppose only Elop really knows and I doubt he will ever really confront the real reasons as to why because it will be too painful but it is a fascinating story for those who take an interest in why people do the things they do.

Snowboarding in France

We had a pretty good time!

Thailand

We are currently in Thailand – it’s great, and as I write (Jo) we are enjoying the laid back beach life of Ko Phi Phi. We arrived in Bangkok a few days ago and were met by Debbie at the airport. Debbie and Sam are working here as teachers and loving it.

They have the most beautiful house outside of the city and are enjoying the Thai life. We spent a couple of nights with them and it was great to have a insiders view of the city as they were able to show us all the best bits. They took us to eat at a couple of great restaurants, we have eaten some fantastic food. (Tim writes – especially cabbages and condoms – see Jo’s new proposed outfit for me….)

I love it so much I even had noodles for breakfast today. Tim had toast and actually takes his own marmalade into the the restaurant!! Honestly!

Tim writes – Bangkok is crazy place – we liked the Grand Palace (had to do the tourist thing…)

It’s also a place of great contrasts to use a cliche – see here for Bangkok transport old (don’t mess with my tut tut)

And new…

Both vids shot within 1km of each other.

Jo writes When we left Debs and Sam we headed down to Krabbi ( a bit further south) where we were duly ripped off by some travel agent and spent the night in the grimest accommodation next to a stagnant swimming pool on the island of Lanta. It was supposed to have a beach side view – instead we couldn’t access the sea due to the rocks in front of the (dirty) complex. Needless to say we got out of there the next day and headed to Phi Phi.

This is a great place- exceptionally beautiful, although a bit of a building site due to the Tsunami. I have planned my escape route in case of another one so you can all rest assured! Pretty much the whole town was washed away and they are doing an amazing job of rebuilding it all. We can only imagine how awful it must have been.

We have managed a good bit of beach action since we arrive. Hired yet another Kayak and explored some of the other beaches (one with real monkeys on)

and yesterday went on a boat trip around the island. We did lots of snorkeling and saw some amazing fish. We also visited the beach where the filmed The Beach, Tim had to play the role of Leonardo for me – as he wasn’t there at the time!

We are also enjoying the shopping. Everything is so very cheap, although we are still spending lots of money. I am loving the rip off clothes, except I was trying to buy some shorts yesterday and to my DISMAY could only fit into size XL! (and only then just barely). Its OK though I have it explained to me – the Thai women are really tiny so its all OK, although lots of other people are walking around in them so what that all about. Maybe they were labelled wrong hey, that’s what I’m telling myself. (Tim writes – PS she found another pair of shorts labelled L which she could fit into – crisis averted..)

Anyway today is our last day on Phi Phi before we head back to Bangkok for a night and then off to Hong Kong. We arrive back on the 14th. Wow – how time flies hey.

Down South West..

Well this is a bit of a fill in blog cos we haven’t been able to find a terminal until we reached the backpackers paradise of Koh Pi Pi……… We set off for 5 nights with a car loaded full of camping equipment and went down the coast road to Margaret river. This is the place for wine and surf (but more wine as it turned out…!). It was extremely hot in Perth 40 degrees but not much less where we were. We ended up after lots of faffing from Tim looking for his ideal site in Yallingup in a pleasant but crowded camp site (Australia day weekend what did we expect?).

The next day we were on the beach. But Tim still could not get the ideal wave…… or the right board. (they only had 8 foot board, lardy Tim needs a 10 foot).

Next day it was off again and we headed further south. Aim was to get to the southern port of Albany, but we got diverted in the forest with some huge Kari trees – you can even climb them – the Ozzys simply put pins in the tree and up you climb. This is a refreshing difference from the UK – their attitude is “of course it’s dangerous if you fall.” in the UK the dreaded health and safety would never allow it…..

By the way Blue Peter can I have a job?

In the Warren forest we met a couple who tipped us off about a great campsite in Windy Harbour – a lot closer than Albany and since we had been driving a lot we went for it and very nice it proved too. There was lots of wildlife, Jo spotted 2 kangaroo grazing on the campsite after dark – we made up our campfire and very relaxed had to record a thanks to Aunty Gill….

There was perhaps a bit too much wildlife – Jo found this on the tent in the morning…

It was a very beautiful spot though and we decided to stay an extra night to go walking on the clifftops the next day.

It was then time to head up back to Perth to catch the flight to Bangkok – except we got 2 hours into the trip then at a coffee break we realise we still have a day… Relaxing a bit too much? We diverted off to Bussleton where after all the efforts to see a Dolphin we actually saw one when walking down the beach after a burnt BBQ. It was actually trying to catch fish by luring them up to the beach so it was within 3m of us for about 30 mins as we followed it up and down the beach. Tim even joined in by trying to get the fish to head out to the deeper water where the dolphin caught it. What a team!

The next day really was the day back, we headed back to Perth where Tiggy was waiting to talk to us – here (finally) is the vid.

Gill also had got Jo’s cousin Penny and her partner John. Jeff came too so it was a bit of a party.

Next stop Bangkok!

Off down south

Quick post – we have just spent a few great days with Aunty Gill and are now going to explore the south west corner of Australia. Tim managed yesterday to fit in a 2 hour surf lesson (but no surf) and then a 3 hr kite board lesson (lots of wind). He actually managed to get up on the plane a few times! Could be the new sport for the North West. Aunty Gill actually lives in a world class kite surf location and Tim tried to persuade her yesterday to buy a house overlooking the kite surf beach for next time we visit!

We tried to load the video of Tiggy the talking cat but couldn’t get it to upload so in the meantime you’ll have to make do with the piccy.

We also spent a day exploring on bike Rottnest island, turquoise sea, golden beaches, great snorkelling, (saw a Ray etc).

All quite routine for us now except for the VERY CUTE (Jo’s emphasis) Quokkas which Jo wanted to take home with her…

Freemantle harbour was also great, arty shops (Jo took advantage) and a cool harbour area. Gill took us to the famous micro brewery on the wharf…

and then the world famour Kailis class fish and ship shop. (Jo’s official favourite food). Apparantly Jo’s mum and dad know it well from their trip!

Australia

Liverpool 2 Chelsea 0 – YES! 

We’re now installed at Jo’s aunt Gill in Perth – consequently we thought we better change the colours of the site to marl the event. Gill lives in a pretty suburb called Kwinana which is close to the port of Freemantle (very cool harbour, micro breweries etc and the beaches.

Tim has decided that he really now has no excuse and needs to learn to surf consequently he is booked into a lesson on Thursday with a bunch of 10 year olds (everyone in Perth of adult age who wants to learn has learnt…). He has also booked an introductory kitesurf course. Jo is looking forward chilling out with aunty Gill and Tigger the talking cat (see vid)……

In Pahia we had a very chilled fish and chips in a pub with a guy playing covers – consequently we bought Snow Patrol and Maroon 5 albums at Auckland airport which is now the current tour soundtrack.

 The video of Shotover jet is now on-line.