Nokia has been having a bit of an up-and-down month. On the one hand, the initial sales of the Lumia 900 in the US, which launched on April 8th, have exceeded expectations. On the other hand, the company reported a huge loss for the first quarter of 2012 and got its credit rating downgraded to junk status by Fitch just this week.
Now a former executive at Nokia has come out to blast the current direction of the company and its CEO Stephen Elop. Crave.co.uk has posted an extensive interview with Lee Williams, who as a senior vice-president of Nokia's Series 60 software division from 2006 and 2009 and later became the Executive Director of the Symbian Foundation. He is currently a partner in a company called Sourcebits.
Williams believes that under the leadership of Elop, Nokia doesn't have much in the way of a grand plan, saying:
Elop hasn't delivered a roadmap. He's been there for two to three years and there's really no roadmap. There's no overarching vision for this company. That to me is akin to stepping completely out of the leadership role and running behind the bus now... Before Elop, Nokia would never give up that leadership position and role in the marketplace, would always talk about the future.
Williams also believes that Elop made a mistake in putting all of Nokia's eggs in the Windows Phone basket. He states:
It might have made sense to introduce a product or two into the portfolio based on Windows Phone. What I do not think they should have done is pretend it is a one horse race, and that one software system is all you need. They have executed in this fashion, and are paying for it.
Williams says that Nokia might give Elop between six to twelve more months before the company's board of directors decides to make another major move, saying, "I'm confident they'll be able to course correct and that they have the kind of assets and talent left to be able to do something here. I don't see them going out in a fire sale."
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