An exec recounts the moment Nokia’s burning platform scorched MeeGo

Bloomberg’s new cover story, titled “Stephen Elop’s Nokia Adventure,” takes an in depth look at Nokia, its CEO and its “epic fail.” Peppered with great moments, one in particular caught our attention: following the elimination of Symbian, Nokia was left with MeeGo as its smartphone platform of the future. Chief Development Officer Kai Oistämö had concerns about the platform, and after voicing them to Elop, the pair decided to reevaluate the company’s path. Elop mapped out several things on a whiteboard — products in development, projected launch dates, OS bugs and so on. After stepping back and realizing that the company might only launch three new MeeGo devices before 2014, Elop and Oistämö had the chat that would change Nokia forever. “It was truly an oh-s–t moment—and really, really painful to realize where we were,” Oistämö told Bloomberg. “MeeGo had been the collective hope of the company, and we’d come to the conclusion that the emperor had no clothes. It’s not a nice thing.”

Thanks John

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Tags: Android, Burning Platform, CEO, Elop, MeeGo, microsoft, Nokia, Stephen Elop, Windows Phone, Windows Phone 7

Zach Epstein