Nokia – the fall of a giant

Viktor Farcic: A while ago, I spoke with a friend who worked at Nokia. I asked him, is it really possible that Nokia didn't see the smartphone coming? Because you'll remember that, back in the day, Nokia was at the top of its game. Their Nokia 1100 series of phones have, to this day, sold over half a billion units and remains—combining the 2003 and 2005 model—one the two most popular handsets in the word. In fact, seven out of ten of the best-selling handsets of all time are Nokia devices. Yet, in Q4 of 2017, the company only grabbed one percent of the market share, shipping only 4.4 million units.

I asked my friend if it was really possible that Nokia didn't see the coming smartphone wave and the impact smartphones would have on the industry. He answered by saying that everyone at Nokia knew what was coming and, more importantly, what needed to be done, but nobody dared tell that to management. That...