It seldom bothers me that companies merge, get acquired, get funded or try long enough for funding and finally shut down. But Nokia CEO and mgmt. team crying over the Microsoft acquisition does make me sad. Nokia 3310 was my first cellphone gifted by my father. And it withstood much metaphorical and physical battering. This phone was almost made of steel, it disintegrated into 3 neat pieces if it fell and could be assembled back in perfect working condition in a minute. It seldom ran out of battery. The audio was perfect. And thankfully as the era of “connectivity” hadn’t arrived – this phone did everything a phone was meant to do – talk , text, stay in touch, and not be invasive. I LOVED my 3310. And eventually had to trade it in for a touchphone after much resistance. My friends and IT team at work know that I kept my sophisticated touchphones in my cupboard for a year and continued using my Nokia as I couldn’t give it up. Maybe some people are just like that.
Nokia management team have so much to be proud of. They created one of the most reliable brands in the world and made mobile phone affordable and accessible for the common man. While I am not the expert on technology, I do know many who worked for Nokia and loved what they created.
I see some friends working in startups, some successful and funded and some not. Like Nokia if they do get acquired (or shut down), would they regret anything? I personally am full of admiration that they pursued what they felt was their calling and took the risk to make their dream a reality. Being
successful (or funded) has a lot to do with being at the right place at the right time. But being acquired by another company is by no means reason to believe that the experiences, the journey and the creation mattered any less to the customer.
I hope people can share Nokia’s successes and legacy, success for Nokia and other companies is so much more than just the balance sheet.
