During a press conference to announce Nokia being acquired by Microsoft, Nokia's CEO ended his speech by saying this: “We didn’t do anything wrong, but somehow, we lost”. Upon saying that, all his management team, himself included, teared sadly. Nokia is a house-hold brand that everyone has come across one way or another. We all have a beautiful memory of a Nokia device that we like to recall every time the brand name is mentioned. Everything from the wallpapers and ringtones to the device usability was appealing to almost everyone.
So what happened to Nokia?
“Nokia was a leading global mobile phone and smartphone maker until it began to struggle in maintaining market leadership due to the rise of more innovative smartphone offerings from Apple, Samsung and Google. Due to various factors, including the shift in the mobile market to smartphones, and the poor choice of mobile operating systems, Nokia was unable to maintain the popularity it once had back in the 2000s. Its initial partnership with Microsoft to use its operating system did not help either as Windows Phone's mobile app offerings were not as comprehensive as the ones available on Apple's iOS and Google's Android.” Wikipedia
Key lessons
According to RVCJ Media, Nokia had been a respectable company. They didn’t do anything wrong in their business. However the world changed too fast and their competition was too powerful. “Nokia could have realised the importance of the business environment and the rapid changes in the trends of everyday people” Facebook user.
Competitive growth in business and the ability to adapt to the times is important because it enables you to identify your specific and unique traits while customising them to improve the customer experience. Doing this enables your business to stay relevant to the current times and remain top of mind with your customers. This is a key ingredient for business success.