*Dead in a year, the pundit says. Hostile takeover, chopped up for component parts.
*If this actually happens to Nokia, it'll be because they were hounded to death by a whispering campaign. That "burning platform" remark will have done in this fragile superstructure all by itself. "'Burning Platform?!' Run for the exits! The world's greatest cellular empire is doomed!"
*First the buyers... because even Chinese buyers are hipper than anybody realized. You wouldn't think they'd care anything about the OS subtleties of Meego and Symbian, but maybe they don't have to; it's just enough to remark on the emperor's nudity, and everyone scoffs. The investors shortsell the company, then the star employees flee headlong for the headhunters. The fall of Nokia is like an Egyptian street uprising. They got flashmobbed. Not over years. Weeks. Weeks are enough. And you know what? People at Nokia are geniuses. They're great engineers. It's like watching a sequoia fall like a dandelion.
*Ahonen is blaming Elop for all this, but I dunno who he'll blame for Apple's instant collapse when Jobs dies of illness. I guess he'll blame Jobs for his human mortality, as Apple, which rivalled Exxon-Mobil for a little while, instantly shrinks to the proportions of Studebaker and is picked apart for pocket change by the vulture-capital crowd.
*Think that can't happen? Explain why not. It could happen to the dollar or the euro, not just some tech company. It's general precarity.
*Maybe Microsoft will rescue Nokia with its awesome smartphone chops. Yep, you betcha.
http://pocketnow.com/smartphone-news/a-look-back-at-the-microsoft-kin-two-video
