Ex-Nokia CEO Olila releases memoir acknowledging mistakes

On October 18, according to ZDNet, Jorma Ollila, the former CEO of Nokia, admitted in a 450-page memoir published on Thursday that the Nokia management team made some mistakes, including failing to identify the constantly changing demands of consumers and losing in the competition against Asian manufacturers producing cheap phones.

It is reported that Ollila joined Nokia in 1985 as Vice President of International Operations; from 1986 to 1989, he served as Senior Vice President of Finance at Nokia and became a member of the Executive Board; from 1990 to 1992, he was President of Nokia's Mobile Phone Group; and from 1992 to 1999, he served as President, CEO, and Chairman of the Executive Board of Nokia Corporation. It was precisely under his leadership that Nokia became the world’s largest mobile phone manufacturer.

According to the Associated Press, the original name of the memoir, translated as "An Impossible Success," provides a detailed account of how Nokia "painfully realized" that its mobile platform lost to American software and was unable to meet the challenges posed by the Apple iPhone.

In addition, Ollila criticized American service providers in his book for telling Nokia that there was no market for phones priced over $300. Later, however, Apple launched phones priced over $600 and achieved great success. He also mentioned that Nokia failed to understand consumer demands, including those for touchscreens and flip phones.

He frankly admitted that Apple had successfully created something entirely new, offering good user experience, ecosystem services, and application support. However, Nokia failed to create such an ecosystem.

Ollila revealed in his book that Stephen Elop was not the first choice at the time. In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, he did not disclose the name of the first choice but only said that this person was in their fifties and the number two figure at a well-known American technology company. This individual withdrew from the competition due to personal reasons at the time.

Nokia has just sold its devices and services division to Microsoft for $7.2 billion. In an interview, Ollila described the deal as "dramatic, and Nokia was brave." However, he wrote in his memoir that he felt particularly sad about the Finnish company, with a history of more than 40 years, being sold overseas.