The Rise and Fall of Nokia

Remember when Nokia, a previously obscure Finish company, made the world's most desirable phones? If you want to get an overview of how this came to be, and why it isn't the case any longer, this documentary serves as a primer. Basically, the Scandivanians pioneered the mobile sector, and with first mover advantage, a small offshoot of a mid-sized industrial conglomerate grew rapidly into a global corporation. The story is one where rapid change doesn't completely obliterate the culture that was there in the beginning; and as that culture is rather different to that of Silicon Valley, where most new technology is developed, this part of the film is innately interesting. The end of the firm is passed over relatively quickly: Apple launched their iPhone, and as the maker of premium products, Nokia didn't go down the road of using Android, which was adopted as an operating system by most of their competitors. This decision that is not discussed at all in the film. The eventual Nokia smartphone lacked a supporting ecosystem and led to the company's takeover by Microsoft, who ceased manufacturing in Finland but who themselves failed to revitalise the line. The point that is made is that the technology used in the iPhone was not revolutionary, and the product shipped with serious deficiencies compared with an orthodox phone (it was fragile, and bettery life was poor). But Apple could see that there would still be a market for such a product, while Nokia, keeping faith in the old ways, found itself disrupted. The film could be longer, and discuss such things in more detail; instead, it rather gives an overview of the life and death of a company that was - maybe - a little bit more human than most of the corporations that dominate our lives.

A very well made documentary. Much old and rare classified research footage from the company it self. A nice down walk memory lane for me. 90s kids.