Nokia did that to themselves, why do people keep blaming Microsoft?

It was the Nokia board that made a bonus clause in Elop's contract if he managed to sell the company.

"Now We Know Why - Nokia's Elop had a $25M personal bonus clause from the Nokia Board if he was able to sell the handset unit to Microsoft"

http://communities-dominate.blogs.com/brands/2013/09/now-we-...

Blame Nokia board, not Microsoft!

If you look at the composition of that board, they were actually the same people on both. So I guess blame Microsoft board/blame Nokia board are both accurate as it's one and the same.

There's enough blame to go around, and ultimately the most to blame was the board. However, Microsoft did play a big role in trying to convince Nokia to get their former VP as their CEO, which was their long con into getting Nokia to adopt Windows Phone, because Microsoft thought a company such as Nokia could surely turn WP's fortunes around.

But yes, Nokia itself was most to blame for its failure to "pee in its pants" and adopt Android when it still had 2x Samsung's market share in phones.

I have my share of insider info as former employee, internal politics played a big role.

Check the The Register articles about the whole Symbian vs Maemo.

The blame for Nokia is complex, but as others have pointed out, there's no lack of blame to assign. Plenty of villains, and some super-villains. Tomi Ahonen's blog has a point of view, but it also goes into greater depth than most coverage of the tragedy at Nokia. I'd recommend it if you want to know what a former insider from the glory days of Nokia thinks.

I am also a former employee, just not one willing to break my NDAs from those days.

I did not read jedmeyers comment as blaming Microsoft for the collapse of Nokia, I read it as pointing out how little value that corpse has to them, murder or not.

Nokia was speeding toward an iceberg before Elop was involved.

The prior Nokia leadership openly mocked the iPhone as a non-threat, and then the company got destroyed by what it represented. Their arrogance was integral in Nokia's suicide.

The only thing you'd ever need to know about Nokia's downfall is represented in this graphic:

http://i.imgur.com/m2pSsHk.png

And this article [2008]:

"Shares of Nokia Corp. fell as much as 10%" ... "Nokia Chief Executive Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo on Thursday brushed off suggestions that Nokia needs to do more to fight back the foray of iPhone onto its home turf, calling it a ‘niche product."

http://macdailynews.com/2008/04/17/nokia_shares_slammed_in_w...