Once the king of the mobile industry, Nokia is today only a shadow of its former self. However, employees tried to sound the alarm when the iPhone was released.
It’s a little piece of modern technological history that can be found in the Nokia archives. At the beginning of 2007, a small team within the Finnish company warned management of the threat posed by a completely new competitor in the mobile world: the Apple iPhone.
While the Finnish company recently put tons of documents, photos and patents online on the Aalto University website in Helsinki, we can see how the company has become a cornerstone of the industry to almost forgotten minor player notes John Gruber on his blog.
A visionary account
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Bluntly, the team reporting on the Apple conference notes that “the new user interface can change the expectations of the entire market. » The fear is obviously that the touch interface will ridicule what was done at the time with T9 keyboards. “Nokia needs a UI manager to put innovation at the heart of its platforms and its business», Points out the internal memo which explains that the user interface had until now been one of Nokia’s strengths.
-Visionary about the critical reception that the brand new mobile would have, the same Nokia team explains that “The iPhone will have a huge impact on the perception of “coolness”“. She also notes that “The iPhone will capture the attention of the American media. If Apple is successful at the announced price, it will create a new high-end market.“. It’s hard not to agree with the employees of the time when we see that the iPhone now sells for more than €1,000.
Nokia firmly believed in QWERTY
If this internal memo somewhat contradicts the story that had been told so far (that Nokia was in no way impressed by the announcement of the iPhone, certain that the future was to be found elsewhere), it is also wrong on a few salient points. In particular, she passes too quickly on the importance of web browsing on mobile, preferring a long reflection on the absence of applications in Java (which were fashionable at the time).
To go further
The end of the Nokia smartphone era has arrived
And if the tactile interface seems to have monopolized the attention of observers at the time, the latter still note that “Qwerty keyboards will continue to exist» for the simple reason that these physical keyboard devices were cheaper. Their prediction will prove correct… in just a few years.
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