Nokia Corporation (NYSE:NOK) and their Windows-based Lumia smartphones are failing to make a splash in the smartphone market, and the now the company’s chief executive officer, Steven Elop, is getting all the blame.
Over the last three quarters, Nokia Corporation (NYSE:NOK) has lost over $1 billion. The company still managed to ship 4 million Lumia smartphones, despite the fact they continued to lose market shares to companies like Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) (the makers of Android and iOS). The problem here? People are starting to lose their patience for the current CEO, Steven Elop.
Magnus Rehle, the senior consulting partner for Greenwich Consulting, recently told Reuters, “Elop has not been able to attract customers and that is what counts. You can say that he has not had enough time, but he has been there for two years. Time is up.”
Rehle summed up his statement by suggesting that Elop only had a few months left to turn around Nokia Corporation (NYSE:NOK) and their Lumia phones, before his time with the company is up.
He’s not the only one who feels this way. Juha Varis, from Dansk Invest Finnish Equity Fund, said, “The Christmas season is a lost cause. For Nokia, if there is any chance, it will be Spring. The beginning of next year may be the final judgment. I think that maybe the end of the first quarter is the marking point.”
The analysts may be on to something, but a part of me wonders if they’re already a lost cause. Obviously, the Nokia Corporation (NYSE:NOK) Lumia failed to make a splash in the smartphone market, and I don’t think that’s ever going to change. If Nokia wants to compete with the other phones, they’re going to have to create one really amazing phone, but, I don’t think they have enough time to do that. Steven Elop’s time is up, but so is Nokia’s.
