Nokia's Annus Horribilis was a self-induced wound. Not a wound. A self-induced serial crippling. Yes, a year of torture by the CEO. A year of water-boarding in fact. A year ago Nokia grew by 48% and made a proft. This year as the industry grew 62% Nokia sales crashed 23% and produced massive losses. Nokia's market share in 2010 was 34%. By Q4 it was just above 12%. Nokia had scared away 65% of its customer base in just one year! We witnessed the establishment of a world record in market share destruction - not only in telecoms but in all industries. Stephen Elop will go into the Business Hall of Shame as the all-time costliest CEO.

But yes, what of that wonderful promised 'third ecosystem' fantasy by delusion-boy Elop? There were some who thought Microsoft plus Nokia would be a sure winner. There were others who felt that partnership was a case of two turkeys who will not make an eagle. It was sheer speculation until we got to see the Lumia launch...And Nokia threw the biggest marketing push for this smartphone series, ever. And on top of that, Microsoft came in and threw hundreds of millions of dollars more in marketing support - including giving away free Xbox 360 videogaming consoles to buyers of the Lumia800 for example in the UK. How many sales did Nokia do of all Lumia phones in Q4? More than 6.4 million? No. Not even close. 600,000 is what Nokia managed. Literally they managed only one tenth the level they did a year ago (when adjusted for industry growth in the past year). That is utterly horrid performance and the signs were all there. The Lumia is not succeeding, and will not succeed. Anyone who hopes or thinks or expects that Lumia and Microsoft can rescue Nokia, has now facts - it will not. The Lumia launch is a total dud.

There is a ray of hope, it is called the N9 and MeeGo (And the N950 and other MeeGo devices either designed or otherwise MeeGo compatible like the N900). MeeGo outsold Lumia by 3 to 1 (more about MeeGo below). But Nokia's psycopathic CEO refuses to let the highly desirable N9 to be sold in Nokia's major markets - to the degree in Germany the biggest newsmagazine, Der Stern actually recommended to its readers to drive to Austria or Switzerland to go buy the N9 rather than Lumia smartphones. And bizarrely he refuses to sell the sister device, the N950 anywhere! Highly desirable 'hit' phones are very rare in this industry and Nokia dearly could use one right now. Only a fool as CEO refuses to sell a hot product globally. Only a fool. As long as Elop is in charge, Nokia is continuing its death-dance and has to sell its best assets just to survive.