Nokia boss: “Expect us to take more risks”
Nokia chief Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo kicked off this year’s Nokia World conference, on a whopping 47-metre-wide stage that over the next couple of days will hopefully see at least one speaker do a Mick Jagger and prance its length while hollering into a radio mic. Steve Ballmer would love it.
Anyway, Kallasvuo was on stage to talk Big Picture stuff, explaining Nokia’s overall strategy and vision. And cor, Kallasvuo mentioned the iPhone (by name) within a couple of minutes of taking the stage. He’s feeling confident, then, buoyed by Nokia’s prediction that there’ll be 3.2 billion mobile subscribers by the end of this year.
He did highlight one mobile application early in his talk. Slifter is a GPS-enabled shopping application that’s available in the US, helping people find products in local stores. “This is just one small way in which we are bringing more choices to more people in more places around the world than ever before.”
Kallasvu also said “you can expect a Nokia that takes more risks, and accelerates into the marketplace to shape the future of mobile communication”. I wonder if those risks include challenging the operators more, since many reacted negatively to Nokia’s plans to move more into mobile services.
Green issues also figured in his speech. “Environmental issues aren’t just the right thing to do: it’s the only thing to do. We must put our words into actions… to make sure we make sustainable choices for the future.”
He says Nokia was the first mobile manufacturer to remind users to unplug their phones when they’ve finished charging, as an example of the company’s desire to lead, as is the way it’s reducing the number of trucks it uses to transport products around the world, and has reduced the size of packaging.
He talked about the new Nokia 3110 phone, which comes bearing green credentials, using less energy and with the new smaller packaging. “We want to make sustainable choices easier for consumers and businesses,” he said. “It’s the dawn of a new area for us and our industry.”
He then talked about openness, which will “increasingly be a key factor in nurturing innovation and content creation”, And there was a specal announcement: Nokia is holding something called Pangea Day on 10th May next year, with cities linking up to produce a film and music programme. “It’s collaboration on a truly global scale,” said Kallasvuo.
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