Dear Nokia shareholders: Don't whine, sell
Summary: Nokia shareholders are quite the whiny bunch in light of the Microsoft pact. It would be a better use of shareholder time to stop griping and sell Nokia shares.
Nokia shareholders are quite the whiny bunch in light of the Microsoft pact.
To wit:
- Waaahh. I don't like the Microsoft deal.
- Boo hoo. I wanted a takeover.
- Stephen Elop is a plant!
- This Microsoft deal is the death of Nokia.
In an open letter, recapped by Sam Diaz on Tuesday, a group of nine young Nokia shareholders---unnamed to boot---wrote a letter to shareholders and institutional investors urging them to replace Elop.
This gang of nine, plans to challenge the Microsoft deal at Nokia's annual meeting. A plan B would revamp the company without becoming a commodity player. Update: This group of Nokia shareholders was a hoax.
I have a better idea. Shut up and sell your shares. This is reminiscent of Carl Icahn griping about Yahoo, getting a board seat and then trying to force change. In the end, Icahn did what he should have done---sell Yahoo shares. Icahn would have saved himself a lot of grief---and made more money---if he just shorted Yahoo to oblivion.
Institutional shareholders aren't going to listen to the gang of nine. Why? If they didn't like the Microsoft deal, they sold already. You have a vote. Your shares.
Previous coverage:
- Nokia CEO states he is not a Trojan horse, conspiracy theories killed
- Translation please: Nokia and Microsoft join forces against Google and Apple for mobile dominance
- Nokia and Microsoft: Economics, risks of a 2-year transition to Windows Phone 7
- Nokia to rely on Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7: ‘This is now a three horse race’
- Nokia’s conundrum: How much pain ahead for an OS switch?
- Maybe Nokia will do a Windows Phone 7 deal, after all
- Microsoft and Nokia announce my dream partnership so why aren’t you all happy?
- What Nokia’s Windows move means for Open Source
- Nokia/Microsoft partnership - Winners and losers
- Biggest loser in Microsoft/Nokia deal is Intel
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Talkback
RE: Dear Nokia shareholders: Don't whine, sell
Not very bright, hey sunshine
So a new CEO comes on board, identifies the problems and immediately takes steps in order to rectify the situation. A sensible investor would see this as a good thing. I don't have a Nokia phone, nor do I intend on purchasing one, but I think Windows Phone 7 is the best thing that could ever happen to Nokia.
RE: Dear Nokia shareholders: Don't whine, sell
Your name tells us everything about where *YOUR* biases may lie. The questions many folks are posing (which you ignored) are: 1) Is Win Phone 7 a viable platform; 2) Can Nokia make profits using it; and 3) Do we have any assurances that Elop, very-recently ex of Microsoft, made an unbiased assessment (or is he just the same sort of Microsoft partisan that you seem to be)?
Frankly, I think the evidence leans towards 1) Probably not, 2) No, and 3) No, all of these much to Nokia's eventual harm.
Don't judge a commenter by his name
Yes, I am a C# developer, but that's just my day job. I've got an Android phone, and planning on moving to the new iPhone later this year. WP7 isn't on my list of things to get. Frankly, I don't care much for Microsoft. I think Ballmer is a bad CEO.
Having said all of that, I do think that WP7 is a magnificent OS. There are tons of developers for the platform. By using WP7, Nokia gets an instant ticket to the west. There are less competitor in WP7 space and if Nokia plays the cards right, they'll become the #1 WP7 distributor. Less investment, more reward - sounds good to me.
@#1 WP7 distributor
Hardly, if WP7 is a hit then it is public and hence a commodity, the cheapest handset maker will win and Nokia won't be able to distinguish itself. It's the same problem as if Elop had gone for Android.
So either he's going to throw money at customizing a platform he doesn't control (not even forkable like Android), or more likely, he'll just put out a few handsets then jump ship again.
I'm betting on the latter.
RE: Dear Nokia shareholders: Don't whine, sell
And those responses show where your biases may lie, doesn't it?.....
You may very well be right about 3. But your responses for 1 and 2 are either mere speculation or not based in fact. Windows Phone 7 is quite a viable platform - developer interest is growing, and it's selling at quite a brisk rate for a new platform. And since Nokia hasn't released a Win Phone 7 platform yet, you can't basically say anything about 2.
guihombre, that's your problem
Me, I said that going Android wouldn't help them as there are so many out there, its getting tougher to make any money on, and that's what Nokia needs.
Funny, some people love to continuously point out about the "razor thin" margings on PC between manufactures because they're all selling the same product with the same OS yet they never take the time to look at the handset market with the same criteria:
With Android stuffed onto so many hansets out there, and the competition what it is, I wonder how razor thin the margins are on handsets?
How many Android phones will there be in 6 months?
RE: Dear Nokia shareholders: Don't whine, sell
Agreed. Symbian used to be the leading platform and now it has lost all credibility. I haven't owned a Nokia for years, so I'm not sure why, but I always liked the old S60 platform. Any how.... Nokia needs an OS. It could go with Android, sure, but how does that distinguish Nokia from anyone else? With this deal, Microsoft gets a platform and Nokia gets an OS that isn't Android. It could be a winner, or it could make no difference whatsoever, but Nokia have always made some good phones (and some less good ones), they have a huge fanbase and if they can get their users to embrace the new OS they'll be laughing. A symbian emulation layer might be the icing on the cake?
Or fight
800 million euro project
In april 2011 we will launch a solution to load electrical cars in less than one minute at a large technology event in France.
It's the first large scale application with electrical cars and either Microsoft and Nokia or Google or Apple will benefit from it since our proprietary technology will support mobile phones to find the nearest gas station
to load your electrical car.
http://www.driveincharge.com for more details
I call BS
RE: Dear Nokia shareholders: Don't whine, sell
Good luck zdnet.
Windows Phone 7 Rocks!!!
RE: Dear Nokia shareholders: Don't whine, sell
RE: Dear Nokia shareholders: Don't whine, sell
RE: Dear Nokia shareholders: Don't whine, sell
RE: Dear Nokia shareholders: Don't whine, sell
RE: Dear Nokia shareholders: Don't whine, sell
Even better, the latest is that the nine shareholders are neither 9 nor shareholders. Apparently it was just some bored dude on a lark. :)
Exactly!
Let them sell their shares...and others buy them on the cheap
Both Nokia and Microsoft have had major blunders in mobile tech (Nokia's Engage game console/phone; MS's Kin). Yet both continue to try new things and play catch-up.
Even if Nokia eventually goes bust with WP7 (and who's to say it won't be a hit in their hands?), they can always fall back on Android (no hard feelings, Google). So what if their phones become a commodity by then; most of them, cheap but reliable phones for the developing market, already are.
Buy on the dip. Now is a perfect chance to invest in Nokia. (I'll refrain comment on MSFT shares for now, however.)