How the iPhone Killed Nokia (It Didn't)

In 2007, almost four in every ten phones sold on Earth were made by Nokia. Six years later, Nokia agreed to sell its entire phone business to Microsoft for €5.44 billion. This is the story of how the world's biggest phone maker lost its crown, and what actually caused it. From a paper mill in Finland to 435 million phones a year, Nokia led the mobile phone market for more than 13 years. Then the iPhone and Android changed what a phone was: not a device, but a software ecosystem. Symbian's share fell from 63.5% in 2007 to 37.6% in 2010, Samsung passed Nokia in early 2012, and after a failed bet on Windows Phone, Nokia sold its phone business to Microsoft in 2014. Microsoft wrote off $7.6 billion of it within two years. But Nokia did not go bankrupt. It reinvented itself as a network company, and its name returned to phones under licence in 2017. Chapters 0:00 The peak 0:24 From paper mill to phones 0:54 Becoming No. 1 1:44 The 2007 peak 2:29 The iPhone and the App Store 3:23 Symbian vs Android 4:06 The burning platform 4:48 Losing No. 1 5:30 The sale to Microsoft 6:15 What happened to Nokia 6:56 The real lessons Sources Gartner, worldwide phone sales 2007: https://www.computerworld.com/article/1563633/2007-was-a-blockbuster-year-for-mobile-phones.html Gartner, smartphone sales by OS 2008: https://www.pressebox.com/pressrelease/gartner-uk-ltd/Gartner-Says-Worldwide-Smartphone-Sales-Reached-Its-Lowest-Growth-Rate-With-3-7-Per-Cent-Increase-in-Fourth-Quarter-of-2008/boxid/246446 Gartner, Symbian 2007–2010 share: https://www.edn.com/android-gains-on-symbian/ Gartner, phone sales Q1 2012: https://techcrunch.com/2012/05/16/gartner-phone-sales-declined-2-percent-in-q1-2012-dragged-down-by-slow-sales-in-asia-pacific/ Nokia 2007 annual accounts: http://media.corporate-ir.net/media_files/irol/10/107224/reports/ann_acc_2007.pdf Nokia and Microsoft partnership, 11 Feb 2011: https://news.microsoft.com/source/2011/02/10/nokia-and-microsoft-announce-plans-for-a-broad-strategic-partnership-to-build-a-new-global-mobile-ecosystem/ Nokia completes sale to Microsoft, 25 Apr 2014: https://www.nokia.com/newsroom/nokia-completes-sale-of-substantially-all-of-its-devices--services-business-to-microsoft/ Microsoft $7.6bn write-down, 8 Jul 2015: https://techcrunch.com/2015/07/08/microsoft-writes-down-7-6b-of-its-nokia-acquisition-announces-7800-layoffs/ Apple Q4 2007 results: https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2007/10/22Apple-Reports-Fourth-Quarter-Results/ Apple Q1 2008 results: https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2008/01/22Apple-Reports-First-Quarter-Results/ Visuals are AI-generated recreations for illustration; no real footage or logos are used. Music: "Lightless Dawn" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ #Nokia #BusinessDocumentary #BoardroomChronicles