Leaked memo claims Nokia is 'burning'

Pouring gasoline on troubled waters

An internal memo penned by Nokia chief Stephen Elop has leaked, revealing just how concerned the ex-Microsoftie is over his new company's direction and future.

The memo, which has been confirmed by Nokia employees as genuine, casts doubt on the company's continued commitment to home-grown mobile platforms Symbian and MeeGo, declaring Nokia to be standing on a 'burning platform' of its own making.

"There is intense heat coming from our competitors, more rapidly than we ever expected," Elop warns employees in the corporate memo. "Apple disrupted the market by redefining the smartphone and attracting developers to a closed, but very powerful ecosystem.

"They changed the game, and today, Apple owns the high-end range," Elop goes on to admit. It's not just the high-end that Nokia has conceded, however, with Android devices proving cause for concern as well.

"Google has become a gravitational force, drawing much of the industry's innovation to its core," Elop states, referring to the massive growth of the company's Android mobile platform - an open-source Linux-based operating system which occupies a space in the market Nokia had hoped to corner with its own Linux-derived MeeGo platform.

"We have some brilliant sources of innovation inside Nokia, but we are not bringing it to market fast enough," admits Elop. "We thought MeeGo would be a platform for winning high-end smartphones. However, at this rate, by the end of 2011, we might have only one MeeGo product in the market."

The memo builds up to a frank admission of impending failure, and one which Elop is no doubt mortified has become public knowledge. "We poured gasoline on our own burning platform," the chief executive bemoans. "I believe we have lacked accountability and leadership to align and direct the company through these disruptive times. We had a series of misses. We haven't been delivering innovation fast enough. We're not collaborating internally. Nokia, our platform is burning."

Elop's concern over MeeGo is joined by an admission that Nokia bread-and-butter platform Symbian is proving 'an increasingly difficult environment' as consumers demand more from their smartphones - and move to Google's Android, Apple's iOS, and Microsoft's Windows Mobile 7 in order to get it.

The memo's publication comes at a time when Nokia is seeing its market share eroded at all levels, and the one-time mobile giant is clearly concerned at the dropping prices of devices based on competing - far more polished - smartphone platforms.

With rumours flying that Nokia is looking to buy in a third-party platform to shore up its lacking Symbian and MeeGo offerings, many in the industry are wondering if the memo indicates that Elop is looking to head back to his former employer cap in hand to ask for a Windows Phone 7 licence.

One thing is certain, however: things have to change in Espoo.

If you want to read the memo in full, head on over to the next page.