"we didn't do anything wrong, but we didn't know why we lost."
This statement was made by former ceo stephen erlop of nokia in 2013 when microsoft acquired nokia's mobile phone business. I've been thinking about this for a long time, and behind it is a question that keeps millions of businesses from dying at night: why are they still losing
Nokia's story begins in 1865. That year, finnish engineer frederik irdstein built a paper factory on the tampere river. Who would have thought that in over 100 years, the paper factory would become the global cell phone master
From paper to cell phone, all the way up
The road to transformation in nokia, known as the textbook level. The paper mill worked for decades and then started making rubber boots, tires, cables and making money. It was not until the 1960s that nokia formally entered the electronic field。
But what really made nokia take off was 1992。
That year, nokia made a key decision: cut off all non-core operations, all in the phone. The mobile market was also in motorola, but nokia saw a tendency to move from "business tools" to "consumer goods for everyone"。
And? Nokia did。
At its peak, the global market for mobile phones was over 40 per cent, and for every 10 mobile phones sold, 4 were nokia. In 2007, the market value of nokia was $150 billion, the most valuable company in europe。
And even worse, nokia made it extremely effective. Cell phones are solid and durable, batteries can be used for a week, buttons are good and signals are out of order. I bought a nokia 5300 in 2008, fell countless times, the screen was broken and it worked, and finally it was changed because it was too late。
What's the problem
The problem is the word "extreme."。
Noki asia and the pacific is good at doing it. It's good at forming path dependence. They sharpened every detail to the extreme: better cameras, longer stand-by hours, more fallable shells, more humane symbian systems。
But nokia ignores a fatal problem: users don't want a "better functionality" but a "better thing."。
In 2007, iphone was published. Jobos took that screen without a physical keyboard and said, "we're gonna recreate the phone."
What do the directors of nokia think? They laughed. How can you type without a keyboard? The touch screen isn't accurate? Battery only lasts one day? How can this thing sell well
There's even a joke going on inside nokia: "iphone is a toy. Who uses it?"
They continue to run on the motor track. In 2008, nokia launched 5800 xpress music, the first touch screen phone in nokia. But to be honest, that experience was not a star and a half compared to the iphone。
"inner scroll" innovation trap
That's what i'm talking about. "inner scroll" innovation。
What do you mean "inner-roll innovation"? It is on the same track that what is already in place is extreme, but it is completely impossible to see that the course itself has changed。
How far did nokia make it? They even studied the size of the fingers of users in different countries to design the radians of the keys; they optimized antenna designs to fill the elevators; they taught 2 million pixels to be clearer than many 3 million pixels。
Are those efforts worth it? Yes. But in the age of smartphones, these values are zero。
It's like a carriage manufacturer making it comfortable and fast, and when it comes to cars, it doesn't make sense。
Nokia isn't no chance. In fact, nokia started developing touch screen technology as early as 2004, three years before iphone. But they think it's not the right time to put this technology on the table。
Even more ironically, the engineers in nokia had developed an app store concept similar to app store, but the management thought that "the phone was used to text on the phone" and shot the idea out。
History is always amazingly similar
Nokia's story reminds me of koda。
Koda invented digital cameras, but hid the technology to protect the film business. And? The technology you invented has been subverted。
And ibm, who almost died on the beach from the wave of the pc. Fortunately, ibm was transformed in time to survive。
These cases tell us the truth: the real threat is often not from competitors, but from the changing times。
Nokia didn't lose apples, he lost to the whole smart age. Like nokia said, "we didn't do anything wrong, but we didn't know why we lost."
The subtext of this sentence is: we did everything right, but the world changed。
Three revelations for today
What does the collapse of nokia reveal to us today
The first revelation: don't "optimise" as "innovation."。
Many firms are calling for innovation every day, and they are actually doing it. Better, cheaper and more efficient products are important, but if the track itself changes, the best is useless。
Ask yourself: are you optimizing carriages or building cars
The second revelation: beware of the arrogance of the successful。
Noki asia and the pacific succeeded to the point where they did not believe that someone could subvert themselves. When the iphone appeared, their first reaction was not "what's the value of this new thing," but "how can it replace us?"。
Success is the greatest cause of failure. Because success gives you the illusion that you have the truth。
The third revelation: users don't want "better old things," but "new experiences."。
Nokia has been doing "better functionality," but users want smartphones. These two things are essentially different species。
Like today, a lot of people are still arguing about whether an electric car can replace a fuel truck. In fact, this is not a substitute for non-replacement, but a completely different kind of travel experience。
At the end
Nokia's story is a story of time change。
It tells us that nothing is eternal in this time of rapid change. Yesterday's master may be history today; today's innovation may become a burden tomorrow。
But the nokia story is not over. Now in nokia, it has been transformed into a giant telecommunications equipment, with an important place in the 5g area. This may be an indication that there will be no problem as long as there is a timely transition。
Which companies do you think are doing the same thing as nokia? The comment section is welcome to share your views. A little attention, and next time we talk about another giant abandoned by the times, motorola。
