14 DAY TRIAL // Nokia has been criticized a lot for the decisions it has made over the past several years in the smartphone segment, but it seems that people within the company, including Nokia Chairman Risto Siilasmaa, are convinced that the company walked on the right path lately.
Back in 2008, Nokia was the largest player in the mobile industry, both in the smartphone and feature phone segment, with Symbian leading the mobile OS pack at the time.
Only a couple of years later, however, the company saw its market share drop significantly in front of Android and was decided to shift its focus from Symbian to another mobile operating system.
It chose Windows Phone, a move that surprised many but which proved to be a good one in the end. Currently, Nokia’s handsets are the most popular Windows Phone devices out there.
However, despite an increase in sales of smartphones, Nokia was still struggling to regain its foothold, and the decision to sell its Devices and Services division to Microsoft was made.
In an interview with Finnish broadcaster YLE, Nokia's chairman Risto Siilasmaa has said this week that this was actually the best decision that Nokia could have made given the situation it was in.
"It was difficult to sleep a few months prior to [the deal] when I understood that the company's situation was such that something major had to be done," Siilasmaa explains, ZDNet reports.
"What has now happened is actually the best solution of all the alternatives. I can't imagine any other realistic alternative where the company's future would look as bright as it does now.”
He also notes that Nokia’s chances to succeed in the given environment were very small, and that they were actually shrinking continuously.
Moreover, he says that the market is currently dominated by big players that don’t allow smaller companies to catch a break, and that things might not change soon.
"As some analysts have described, the smartphone business is structurally unattractive at his time. We have moved on to a phase where two big players dominate the market with their strong ecosystems. Everyone else is making losses or breaking even at best,” he adds.
Following the completion of the Microsoft deal, Nokia has become a profitable company once more, as it now runs three successful businesses, in the form of HERE, NSN, and Advanced Technologies.
According to the Chairman, there is a great deal of opportunities waiting to be seized, including some in smart devices. He also notes that Nokia still “needs to have strong ambitions to grow."