Posted on Saturday, October 02 2010 @ 9:40 CEST by Thomas De Maesschalck
NY Times
reveals Nokia engineers had developed a prototype of an Internet-ready, touchscreen smartphone with a large display, but management killed it because they worried that the product could be an expensive flop.
But management worried that the product could be a costly flop, said the former employee, Ari Hakkarainen, a manager responsible for marketing on the development team for the Nokia Series 60, then the company’s premium line of smartphones. Nokia did not pursue development, he said.
“It was very early days, and no one really knew anything about the touch screen’s potential,” Mr. Hakkarainen explained. “And it was an expensive device to produce, so there was more risk involved for Nokia. So management did the usual. They killed it.”
