Why Did Nokia Fail in Enterprise Smartphone Business ?

Q: Why Did Nokia Fail in Enterprise Smartphone Business?

A 

I do write about security, but seeing Nokia fail hurts everyone. (When Dilbert Came to Nokia - http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/10/14/nokia_dilbert/ )  So here is my part of the story.

Being a part of one of the largest Nokia Enterprise Security Partners, we felt the Dilbert story of Nokia organization at first hand. Since Nokia Enterprise Security is no more, I can write about what happened. It was around 2004 when Nokia Reps, SEs started to visit us regarding “Mobile Business Solutions” even back then Blackberry was so popular, so we developed an interest in “free” Nokia phones handed to us by Nokia.

Nokia Access Mobilizer ( NAM which became N1BS  -Nokia One Business Solution) was our first hit. Our idea was that Nokia will deliver an excellent mail server, and then Blackberry would be the history

Here is an email I have written to a colleague in 2004 regarding  NAM / N1BS

Here are my notes:

N1BS is the new name that Nokia marketing geniuses found for Nokia Access Mobilizer. N1BS stands for Nokia One Business Server.

N1BS does not run on classic Nokia hardware and the IPSO operating system. Instead, this product runs on a specific blend of Linux called IPSO-SX and the proprietary "Intel" server called EM6000. If you need to dig more here is the Nokia's acquisition path for these products:

a- N1BS was acquired from EIZEL in 2003. Its original name was Amplifi : http://web.archive.org/web/20030422051926/http://www.eizel.com/

b-The Linux kernel for IPSO-SX is from Montevista. Isn't it a coincidence that Montevista is a Linux distributor for mobile phones :) http://www.mvista.com/

c- The em6000 hardware is from ablecom which sells the system in the name of superserver: http://www.ablecom.com/system/6013p-8.htm

N1BS is good for the following:
1- Any mobile device with wap browser can access to any web page through its proxy. Device independent internet service. N1BS morphs the web pages to your tiny mobile device screen.

2- Email and PIM (Calendar-contacts) integration. Supports exchange and Lotus Notes in native mode
3- Offline sync for PIM and e-mail (through IMAP client)
4- Content processing; N1BS aggregates/abbreviates the data for you. Image processing: Images are re-rendered.
5- Viewers for most of the attachments. E.g. powerpoints. pdfs on your phone
6- Secure, reliable, flexible etc, enterprise marketing stuff..

Here are the highlights that drew my attention
a- Licensing is important. This device uses FlexLM licenses. This means you get a LAC (License Authorization Code) and generate the real license on Nokia web site. 2 per LAC.

b- Sensitive information on the device is encrypted with Blowfish
c- Regular RPM packages are installable by newpkg command. Nokia recommends some packages so this means it does not break the support agreement

d- There is an integrated postgreSQL on the box
e- X libraries are there too. The reason is attachment processing
f- No "Voyager" or "Clish" on this new IPSO-SX. You are on your own.
g- No HA or load balancing solutions are in place
h- No central authentication system integration (LDAP, Radius, AD etc). Even with Radius you need to define users one by one

i- No central "config" file like IPSO
j- No CD bay on the EM6000 hardware
k- No Cron :)
l- No SSL accelerator
m- Nokia gives NAM support from India
n- There is integrated openoffice for attachment viewing
o- You may see NAM, MCA, Documa, names in the documentation . They all mean N1BS
p- No SNMP integration

There is a rumor that Nokia will use this IPSO-SX on the firewalls too but I think it is still too early(See items above that start with No). I have heard that Nokia quit message protector which was also runnning on IPSO-SX

N1BS had a brilliant idea, back then smartphones were very expensive and there was a clear need for a mid market mail solution. With Sync-ML and integrated mail/calendar/contact synchronization this was the right solution for midmarket. It also had auto abbreviation which is made sense where data was costing arms and legs.. So we made the decision and I spearheaded the investment on developing a managed services solution for N1BS.. Then came the Nokia announcement, “We do not think that N1BS works like Blackberrry so we are changing the platform”

When Nokia canceled N1BS you could tell there was an internal friction at Nokia organization. In September 2005 (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/09/13/nokia_unveils_mobile_email_drive/) Nokia told us that we were supposed to use Nokia Business Center – NBC,  NBC would support push mail that N1BS suffered. So we formatted the N1BS server started from the scratch with NBC, we were still ok because I was a big fan for  my S80 9500. We believed in Nokia and continued to market the Nokia mail solution.We built NBC server, tried to build the services around it. But there were problems here is an email I have written in Oct 2005. You can tell that NBC was buggy..Now looking back, I can tell what the problem was; Symbian Group did not work with NBC group at Nokia, they were simply different business lines (retail vs enterprise), so NBC could not use any of the OS level features, even cut&paste was not available to NBC mail client, without phone OS integration NBC's doom was fixed.

The email client interface is not good. It lacks the basic editing functionality of Nokia Symbian interface. I even could not select-cut&paste the e-mail content. Mouse over dial/e-mail things do not work, I have to go over the menu. Body of the messages format is clumsy.

If this is a unified messaging tool, then it should. I like the built-in messaging interface more. Built-in mail client has the ability to forward mails to cell phones, and fax (fax, SMS, MMS profiles). Built-in client works perfect..on the other hand NBC client is worse than built-in mail client.

External e-mail does not work with the following message:

Sending of e-mail failed . Please try again

mail.send.failed:Invalid Addresses

 nested exception.js

class.javax.mail.SendFailedException: 451 Can't connect to gmail.com – psmtp. This problem has been fixed

PIM sync has its own problems

This problem has been fixed. I get PIM sync failed errors sporadically. It works after 2-3 trials

When I forward reply and e-mail with NBC, I do not see forward, reply information in Exchange. It only marks read/unread data. If an e-mail is forwarded or replied via business center client, exchange not update the  forward/reply history

Embedded URL links are stripped. No URL links in incoming mail

URL links are stripped by NBC server or the client. An example is the following mailAttached below is the outlook version where URL and the links are working.. On NBC both the format is gone and there are no links..

I did a couple of tests, this mail goes to gmail as a multi-part message in MIME format with base64 encoding. That may be the problem.

NBC does not work well with these mails.
Attachments open a separate interface when 'add' is chosen. This interface requires shut down after adding the attachment.This problem has been fixed

I could not manage to delete/edit original mail content when replying

Connectivity is a big problem… It never survives the night. Executives will not like that.

Clients still hang due to GRPS errors. If they are left on all night (sometimes) or phone is shutdown during communication, the client hangs up in "connecting" state.

Here is the fix that works for me:

1. From tools conn.manager menu highlight GPRS connection and disconnect
2. Go to NBC client and switch to offline
3. Reconnect from NBC choose GPRS connection.

Wouldn't be easier if the NBC client disconnects GPRS and reconnects instead off trying "connecting" for hours..?

But if the G sign is still there and the connection is not there (G sign not in the box) the conn manager displays receive/sent 0/0kB duration 00:00:00, this means remove the battery - hard reset solution.. I cannot kill/disconnect a an already disconnected GPRS connection..

This will be annoying for novice executives..

Sometimes after rebooting I get the "install business extras?" installation prompt even if it is installed.. Ususally phone crashes afterward, 2,nd remve battery insert batttery solved the problem.. Can we request for a reboot, or ctrl+alt+del button?

Signature sends a garbage character with rich text. There is no option to choose text/html only signature

Directory search does not search local contacts database. Sending e-mail to local contacts is difficult.

When the phone is off (or no coverage), NBC does not work over wi-fi for 9500 hundred. There is no switch connection option either.

You would think Nokia was settled no, right after we deployed NBC Nokia announced that they have acquired intellisync (Nov 2005) for $430M.( http://www.infoworld.com/d/networking/update-nokia-acquires-intellisync-430-million-221) I was furious I have developed a solution 2 times for nothing. Intellisync was simply a replication platform on steroids. It was replicating files, emails whatever it could find. Nokia liked it because Verizon, and Vodaphone used it.. (Service Providers used Intellisync because it was cheap) ..Right after the acquisition, I was told we should wait because Intellisync did not match the development quality of Nokia….It was so bad even internal Nokai employees couldn’t switch, they were still on NBC.. So within that turmoil I was invited to a partner conference. Partner conference was for  Nokia Business as it is described in the recent register article

So this time we did not move.. In 2006 I received an invite from Nokia

Hello Nokia Partner,

Just a note to remind you to register for the Nokia Enterprise Solutions Partner Conference in Boston next month on October 25-27 2006

Your participation and feedback as one of our most valued partners is vital to our continued growth and success together.  This will be one of the most substantial and important Partner Conferences we have had in a number of years.  This event will be an opportunity to meet and listen to Nokia Enterprise Solutions Senior Management as they share their vision and strategies for the enterprise market.  Mary McDowell, Executive Vice President and General Manager, Nokia Enterprise Solutions, David Petts, Senior VP Global Sales, Marketing & Services, Nokia Enterprise Solutions, and other members of the Nokia management team will be there to present their ideas and to meet you personally.

You do not want to miss the kick off of our newly designed Partner Program or the roll out of new products that will offer your business new strategic directions.  I guarantee you will leave the conference excited, energized, and ready to get to work.  We also have a little fun planned.

During the conference I did speak. I told hundreds of Nokia Executives that as a partner I lost my confidence that nokia could deliver a solution that could last more than 1 year.. nobody listened they were all lost in the glory of the "Intellisync", they even didn’t know about competition, I remember 1 comment, “We are bigger than Microsoft in Operating Systems”…That was nothing more than self soothing propaganda - as we all expected the truth was not so far in the future (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/10/22/symbian_wound_down/) 

So Nokia Enterprise Business gave their promise on 2 major tickets at the Boston conference

• Intellisync is the last stop, trust us, and invest in Intellisync
• Nokia IPSO platform is here to stay, trust us, do not invest in any other appliance

I was like Cassandra, So as expected nothing happened with intellisync, Nokia was so lost, you could tell is when they announced that they are killing Intellisync (http://www.open-horizons.net/blog/erno/replacement-strategies-did-nokia-kill-intellisync-or-protect-your-investment) in Sep 2008 Nokia made the expected announcement

“
"The Nokia-Microsoft collaboration to bring corporate mobile email to businesses and mobile professionals is truly unbeatable. No other device manufacturer provides the wide range of devices that we have which immediately mobilize the hundreds of millions of email accounts from Microsoft Exchange," said Anssi Vanjoki, Executive Vice President, Markets, Nokia. "The costs of mobility are contained as companies are able to utilize existing Microsoft Exchange infrastructure, and there is also the strong possibility that a large number of employees already have one or more of the 43 Nokia devices that enable Exchange ActiveSync - http://www.designtaxi.com/news/20941/Nokia-brings-Microsoft-Exchange-ActiveSync-Corporate-Mobile-Email-Solutions/"

But this time we were prepared we already had Blackberries everywhere..