There is another article about this interview over at http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/02/26/nokia_laptops/

And the translation there is:

“We don’t have to look even for five years from now to see that what we know as a mobile phone and what we know as a PC are in many ways converging,” Kallasvuo told broadcaster YLE when questioned about Nokia’s aspirations towards the lap. “We are looking very actively also at this opportunity.”

Maybe you should just go to the source & ask the tv host who did the interview: heikki.ali-hokka(at)yle.fi

Business value = Eyeballs * intent

They got the eyeballs now they have to increase intent to sell more valuable ad space, as higher the intent as higher the ad price. For this they really need to know personal data, since intent can be calculated out of the context a person is searching. To make up a freaky example. Am I just a car fan and looking at the new Porsche or am I in the market for a new sports car and have visited a few car dealers in my area?
This distinction can easily be made with personal data available to my search, best in combination of data from a personal device I carry around.
In the end Google could provide a better user experience with more relevant data no matter the form factor.

Nokia can do what? Compete on price? There were MP3 players before before iTunes, separate Office applications before MS Office. In the end integrated experience won.
Or maybe Nokia’s spreadsheet shows that Google is just Google and all the data point to price and execution and they can compete on that.
Nokia always seemed to me like Sony in the consumer device area (not game console), they really don’t get Software, it always feels awkward even if all the features are there.

Any recommendations on the Finnish translation person. I really don’t know many folks there, and the ones that I know are well on the move today :-)

The original TV interview can be seen here: http://www.yle.fi/java/areena/dispatcher/1923984.asx?bitrate=1

It’s in Finnish, so I guess it won’t do you much good. ; ) Maybe you might want to get a third opinion from a native speaker beyond the Reuters reporter & myself?

My point wasn’t about your thesis about Nokia, merely that the source behind your article is a misinterpretation of the original interview. And thinking about this a bit further, if Nokia was to move to the laptop business, would they announce it in a TV interview in Finland? I don’t think so…

Not unlike many large companies, my understanding of Nokia’s internal ops is that they have a bunch of fiefdoms and encourage a kind of cut throatism in development, so it may never see the light of day anyway and is a nice PR play.

Is there a chance you can provide a link to the original post and suggest how best to get a translation for the interview. I would like to amend my article to reflect the correct tone.

Regardless, my thesis about Nokia facing a tough road ahead isn’t going to change anytime soon, unless they change as a company. :-)

I used the 5800 and it is as bad as any one of the touch screen phones, though Samsung Insight is pretty far along. Regardless, it is NOT a worthy competitor. And I wouldn’t take one for free. Seriously, not joking about it.

In the original Finnish language TV interview, which I saw myself, the host asked CEO Kallasvuo, whether Nokia’s going to move to the laptop business at some point. Kallasvuo answered something like “we’re looking at this opportunity also” with a neutral “never say never” tone – he was by no means actively stating that Nokia’s moving into the laptop business, as the Reuters article suggests.

Where Nokia could have created a profitable model is through subscription, as they do with phones. If I got a NetBook with a $30 connection fee, that may be of interest to many. It probably does take low margin producers to keep the costs in line though.