Nokia sold four phones out of every ten in the world. It had already built the future in its own labs. Then it lost.
Harder version: read this lesson at C1 level →
Look at each word. Say what you think it means. Then tap the card.
Tap a card to see the meaning.
Write one word from the cards in each gap.
1. My laptop is fine, but the on it is very old and slow.
2. I was to speak in the meeting, so I said nothing.
3. Sorry I'm . The train didn't come.
4. They built a of the new car, but they never sold it.
5. Our biggest opened a shop in the same street.
6. After the fire, only two shops in the street .
1. software · 2. afraid · 3. late · 4. prototype · 5. competitor · 6. survived
Read each part. Then answer the questions before you read the next part.
In 2007, Nokia was the biggest phone company in the world. Four phones out of every ten came from Nokia. The company was from Finland, a small country in northern Europe, and it was Finland's most famous company.
Nokia phones were very good. They were strong. You could drop them and they did not break. The battery worked for a week.
And Nokia knew about the future. In its labs, it had already built touchscreen phones. It had ideas for app stores and mobile internet. These prototypes existed years before other companies.
In January 2007, Apple showed the iPhone. Apple was a computer company. It knew nothing about phones. The first iPhone was expensive, it broke easily, and it was not very good for phone calls.
People inside the phone industry laughed. They were not stupid: as a phone, the iPhone really was worse. But it was not really a phone. It was a small computer that could also make calls.
True or false? Click your answer.
1. In 2007, Nokia sold about four phones in every ten.
2. Nokia had never built a touchscreen phone before 2007.
3. The first iPhone was cheap and very good for phone calls.
Nokia tried to answer Apple. It started new touchscreen projects. But Nokia's software was old. It was built for a different time, and changing it was slow and difficult.
The engineers who made the machines were still excellent. But they waited and waited for the software. Deadlines moved from months to years.
Later, researchers talked to many people who worked at Nokia. They found the real problem. It was fear.
Middle managers were afraid to tell their bosses how bad the software was. They were afraid for their money, their jobs and their careers. So at every level, the news became a little better than the truth.
The top bosses saw good reports. So they asked the engineers for impossible things. The engineers could not do them, so they also reported good news. Nobody told a big lie. But the whole company was not telling the truth.
In 2011 the new boss, Stephen Elop, wrote a famous letter to his staff. He said Nokia was like a man standing on a burning oil platform in the sea. Stay, and you die. Jump into the cold water, and maybe you live.
Nokia jumped. It stopped using its own software and chose Microsoft's software instead.
True or false? Click your answer.
1. Nokia's engineers were bad at making phone hardware.
2. Managers did not tell their bosses the truth because they were afraid.
3. Elop said the company was safe and everything was fine.
The jump did not work. Nokia told everybody that its old phones were finished — but the new phones were not ready for another year. So people stopped buying the old ones, and there was nothing new to buy.
When the new phones came, reviewers liked them. Customers did not. There were already two big systems, Apple and Android, and app makers did not want to build for a third.
In 2013 Nokia sold its whole phone business to Microsoft for about five and a half billion euros. Two years later, Microsoft stopped making phones. The most famous name in mobile phones disappeared from phones.
But there is a second ending. The company Nokia did not die. It stopped fighting for phones and sold network equipment instead — the machines that make mobile networks work. It still does this today, and it makes money.
And Finland survived too. Thousands of Nokia engineers lost their jobs, and many of them started new companies. One of them made the game Angry Birds.
So here is the hard question. Nokia had the technology first. It had the money, the brand and the best engineers. And it still lost. Where did it lose? In the labs? In the software? In the Microsoft decision? Or years before, in a hundred meetings where nobody wanted to give the bad number?
True or false? Click your answer.
1. Nokia announced the end of its old phones before the new ones were ready.
2. The company Nokia does not exist today.
3. Some engineers who lost their jobs started new companies.
This whole story is about a company that used to be number one. English has a special structure for exactly this: something was true in the past, and it is not true now.
Positive: Nokia used to be the biggest phone company. (before yes — now no)
Negative: People didn't use to have touchscreens. (NOT didn't used to)
Question: Did you use to have a Nokia? (NOT Did you used to)
Careful: after did, we write use to, with no d. You cannot hear the difference when people speak, but you can see it when you write.
| Form | Example | Careful! |
|---|---|---|
| Positive | Nokia used to sell four phones in ten. | — |
| Negative | Nokia didn't use to have a competitor. | NOT |
| Question | Did Nokia use to make good phones? | NOT |
| Still true now | Nokia still sells network equipment. | Use still, not used to |
Use used to, didn't use to or still. Read the whole sentence first.
1. Nokia be the biggest phone company in the world, but Apple and Android took the market.
2. In 2005, phones have touchscreens; they had small plastic buttons.
3. Nokia makes network equipment today, and the business is profitable.
4. Kodak and Nokia be national champions in their countries.
5. Managers tell the truth about the software, because they were afraid.
1. used to · 2. didn't use to · 3. still · 4. used to · 5. didn't
Each sentence has one mistake. Say the correct sentence out loud, then check.
1. Nokia didn't used to have a serious competitor.
2. Did you used to have a phone with buttons?
3. My grandmother use to work in a factory.
4. Nokia used to sell phones, and it used to sell network equipment today.
5. I am used to live in a small village when I was a child.
1. Nokia didn't use to have a serious competitor. (after "didn't", no d)
2. Did you use to have a phone with buttons? (same rule, after "did")
3. My grandmother used to work in a factory. (positive form needs the d)
4. Nokia used to sell phones, and it still sells network equipment today. (true now = still)
5. I used to live in a small village when I was a child. ("I am used to" means something different — it means it is normal for me)
Take your time. Short sentences are fine.
Tell me the story of Nokia in your own words. Six or seven sentences is enough.
Tell me about something in your life that used to be one way and is different now — your city, your job, your free time, your family.
Use used to at least three times.
Nokia's managers were afraid to give bad news. Is it easy or difficult to give bad news where you work or study?
What makes it easier?
Nokia had the best ideas first, and still lost. Why do you think this happens to big companies?
Give one example from your own country.