Image via CrunchBase

Mobile phone giant Nokia sold 100m smartphones in 2010, retaining its title as the world’s largest smartphone manufacturer, however for the first time ever in the fourth quarter mobile phones built on Android outsold Nokia.

Nokia’s smartphone market share also plunged from 39% to just 30% in 2010, revenues were up but profits and margins were down. In response CEO Stephen Elop has called for a strategy briefing on February 11th. On January 27th he said, Nokia must “build, catalyze, and/or join a competitive ecosystem”. It’s unlikely however that they’ll ditch the Symbian or the advanced MeeGo platform it’s jointly developing with Intel.

The above was extracted from this article in Business Week.

I think joining Android would be a good idea for Nokia, its already available with growing number of users and a wide variety of apps readily available.

With Android I predict Nokia would regain its market share. There’s no doubt that Nokia make decent, reliable phones but they’re let down by user experience (the operating system). Maybe they think they can do better but in the mean time they’re losing market share and shareholders are heading for the exit.

What do you think about the possibility of Android on Nokia?

Image by akiey via Flickr

So unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last week you’ll know that the Egyptian people have taken to protesting for the removal of dictator President Mubarak, who has been in power for the past 30 years. However the way they’ve gone about it is quite remarkable.

On Friday, Egyptian Christian‘s protected their Muslim counterparts from the police as they prayed. When looking into this story I also found that on January 7th the roles were reversed, a week after a suicide bomber killed 21 Christians and injured over 80 in Alexandria.
‘Egypt’s Ahramonline quotes Mohamed El-Sawy, a Muslim arts tycoon credited with first floating the “human shield” idea, as saying, “We either live together, or we die together.”

Today on SKY NEWS, it was acknowledge that the Egyptian people are self-policing, including picking up any rubbish that they leave on the streets.

Most importantly though, they’re fighting for something they truly believe in. Something we in the west are granted on a dialy basis, a free and fair democracy. Despite the Government making every effort to stop them; shutting off internet, mobile and even train services. Also in the face of police brutality, the death toll in Egypt is currently 164 but they fight on.

You can follow the topic on Twitter, by searching #jan25.

Image via CrunchBase

I’m not sure if I was necessarily surprised when I saw Fast Company Co.Design’s article on Google’s new London offices but I certainly wasn’t expecting what I saw.

I’m aware that more companies, especially American tech companies, like to provide a more relaxed work environment for their staff – with the view being that a more relaxed company culture will inspire a more efficient workforce.

In my view, Google have taken it above and beyond. I agree with Co. Design’s Suzanne Labarre that this may be more counterproductive. It seems to have gone from relaxed to childish, how on earth are you meant to concentrate on anything? Relaxed is good, but surely a company needs to retain some professionalism?

Let me know your thoughts.

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Alternatively if its a specific blog page you are looking for just change the “benrosier” part of the url to “tantamountridiculous”, and you should find the blog piece you are looking for.

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Definition: Member of a board who does not carry out any day-to-day operations of the organisation. This means that they can take a detached look at the way in which the organisation is run.

For a private limited company, an NED could provide necessary contacts or knowledge that could enhance the running of a company. They will also be able to give the Directors’ guidance in Board meetings and offer advice (as an outsider looking in) on the direction of the company. Sometimes you’re so involved that you don’t quite see things as an outsider would.

The reason the majority of private limited companies don’t employ NED’s is because of their excessive fees. In the 2009/10 fiscal year the BBC paid Non-Executives Directors’ £35,700 per annum as a base fee which they say “are set with reference to rates paid by other UK corporations”. Presumably this is why private ltd companies don’t employ NED’s.

I’m not wrangling for a job offer here – I’m a couple of years off this stage yet but what if private limited companies were to offer positions to younger candidates who could use the experience. Digest that for a second, I know a lot of you have a look of horror on your face right now. Obviously the candidate will have to be quite mature for their age, possibly a young entrepreneur or someone studying for a degree. Think about all them students at Uni studying for business, finance, law and marketing degrees – they may be young but in some areas will no more than you. You just have to be able to define your weaknesses.
Chances are most will do it for free, in exchange for placing it on their CV and the recommendation that follows. If that wasn’t a good enough deal in itself, there is always the possibility that they could come back to help you out in future – most people look to repay the faith shown in them.

Hi guys,

Thought this might be an interesting read for some of you.

Check it out and let me know what you think.

Ben.