Nokia’s Mounting Losses

It’s no secret that the Nokia I was obsessed with 3-4 years ago isn’t really around anymore. They’ve shed pretty much everything they could in the past few years – a major smartphone operating system, mind-blowing amounts of marketshare, ungodly amounts of money, and sadly, some of the most talented folks in the industry. In the past few weeks, two have come to light that really just suck for Nokia (and these two guys).

Phil Schwarzmann – I met Phil almost a year after starting Symbian-Guru.com, at the Evening with S60 event in Chicago. Phil was quite literally the voice of S60, as he hosted a podcast called Voice of S60, and had previously launched the incredibly popular S60 Blogs collection. In Chicago, Phil invited myself (and Christina), along with Darla Mack, Howard Chui (of HowardForums.com), and a few others back to his hotel room to record a couple of episodes of the Voice of S60. Here’s a quick video of the event (see Phil at 0:16, and myself in the background at 0:21, drooling over the Vertu phones in the back)

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODBKF94SyiQ

Over the years, I’ve enjoyed a great friendship with Phil, working with him on various promotions that we hosted through Symbian-Guru.com, and even getting the chance to FINALLY get him on video at Nokia World 2009

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WE3cZ6k7c6U

Phil took over the Nokia Conversations blog from Charlie Schick (another awesome dude) a few years ago, and he built it into the 3rd most read corporate blog on the planet – no small feat. Unfortunately, Phil is no longer with Nokia, and is looking for his next adventure.

Russell Beattie – Russell’s been around mobile for longer than anyone I know, and is quite the visionary in that realm – pore through his archives and make note of the date – it’s like the man can see the future or something. When he joined Nokia a few years ago, I was rather excited to see what he would bring. Unfortunately, as Nokia continues to shrink, they’ve let him go.

While it’s sad to see Nokia losing such talented guys, I’ve no doubt they’ll both land on their feet somewhere, and I’m anxious to see what awesomeness they come up with next.