Nokia's CEO Disappointed At His Engineers For Not Using iPhones?

Say What? You'd guess that the largest handset maker in the world would have better things to do than just drool at the competition, but I guess every management style is different. In a shocker report,Businessweek's recent article talks about Stephen Elop's sinking Nokia adventure, and how he once showed disappointment to his team of 11,600 engineers because very few of them showed any interest in the competition they face. 

After very few hands were raised as he asked his enormous team of engineers just how many of them had ever used an iPhone or an Android phone, his immediate response was: 

“That upsets me,” Elop said. “Not because some of you are using iPhones, but because only a small number of you are using iPhones.”

“I’d rather people have the intellectual curiosity to try to understand what we’re up against,” said Elop. 




Surely it's a smart route to know your enemy before planning your next strike, but history has proven that trying to copy the competition won't bring positive results in the long run. If any of you remember, Windows Mobile once evolved to a one handed, soft-key based UI trying to copy Nokia's footsteps when Windows Mobile 5 was released, and we all know how that story ended. Both iOS, Android and even the new Windows Phone 7 have proven to be a true evolution in how Smartphones should be, but at the expense of not copying any of their competitors. I guess this is just another reason why Nokia isn't floating back to the top any time soon under Elop's administration. 

Via: Cult Of Mac 
Source: Businessweek