“You know it, we know it, and Nokia sure as hell knows it. The Finnish mobile-making team shot itself in the foot with its N8 launch purely through a bungled execution on the software front.”

Ouch. Nokia N8 – really great hardware, bad software.

That has been written about many Nokia handsets over the last 3 years. It’s really surprising how a company at the top of it’s game can be blind-sided by a disruptive entry into it’s market, be left unable to respond, and then take years to recover (if at all). It’s surprising, but happens repeatedly.

Seems companies go through the Kübler-Ross model just like individuals…

1. Denial
2. Anger
3. Bargaining
4. Depression
5. Acceptance

For companies I’d say this is more…

1. Denial
2. Inaction
3. More Denial
4. Slow Realisation
5. Fast Restructuring
6. Updated Product

Depending on how effective this is, they may miss some steps or go through the 5-6 loop several times, or they may run-out of time. Nokia is in it’s 3rd iteration of the 5-6 loop (N96 was the 1st, N97/5800 was the 2nd, N8 is the 3rd).