BlackBerry needs to hire Marko Ahtisaari at any price!

A golden opportunity has emerged out of the Microsoft acquisition of Nokia's devices business.

The EVP, Chief of Design at Nokia Marko Ahtisaari has stepped down.

One thing that BlackBerry needs desperately is a cohesive vision when it comes to both hardware and software design. Marko makes Johny Ives look amateur. He crafted MeeGo and the N9 into what many would still call today the most cohesive and beautiful combination of hardware and software that has ever been produced.

BlackBerry 10 feels designed by committee by comparison to what Marko has produced.

If BlackBerry still cares about BlackBerry 10 as a consumer software platform and has any desire left to stay in the hardware business, they need to offer Marko Ahtisaari any sum of money he desires to take the job as Chief of design at BlackBerry heading the visual direction of both the hardware and software.

That would too much sense for BlackBerry, so it's not gonna happen. They won't hire Marko Ahtisaari for design when they've kept Frank Boulben around for so long.

Originally Posted by birdman_38

That would too much sense for BlackBerry, so it's not gonna happen. They won't hire Marko Ahtisaari for design when they've kept Frank Boulben around for so long.

Oh I I sincerely doubt he would even be interested if BlackBerry ever came to him with an offer. But he definitely would be the one man, if there is one man, who could save BlackBerry's hardware business.

But it doesn't matter who designs the phones. take for example the Z10, originally the Dev Alpha A was going to be the Z10, but the officially stated reason they dropped the design was the carriers didn't like it!.

there ya go, look of the product defined by the carriers, not by BlackBerry. Having personally owned a dev alpha A, and then looking at the Sony Z range, I don't see a huge difference. maybe that's just me, but to me the dev alpha A looked better than the Z10.

Originally Posted by BBThemes

But it doesn't matter who designs the phones. take for example the Z10, originally the Dev Alpha A was going to be the Z10, but the officially stated reason they dropped the design was the carriers didn't like it!.

there ya go, look of the product defined by the carriers, not by BlackBerry. Having personally owned a dev alpha A, and then looking at the Sony Z range, I don't see a huge difference. maybe that's just me, but to me the dev alpha A looked better than the Z10.

That's interesting to know.

Originally Posted by BBThemes

But it doesn't matter who designs the phones. take for example the Z10, originally the Dev Alpha A was going to be the Z10, but the officially stated reason they dropped the design was the carriers didn't like it!.

there ya go, look of the product defined by the carriers, not by BlackBerry. Having personally owned a dev alpha A, and then looking at the Sony Z range, I don't see a huge difference. maybe that's just me, but to me the dev alpha A looked better than the Z10.

That's the first I've heard that is was carriers that rejected the Dev Alpha A design. I was under the impression that it was BlackBerry management at the time deciding that they were going to overhaul it with cutting edge tech. I remember Jim and Mike talking about the need to delay the first BB 10 phone (at the time the Dev Alpha A) because they were going to use a SOC that wasn't even in production yet to help them leapfrog the competition.

Whatever the reason for the delay I definitely disagree 100% that a talented Chief of design with a unifying vision is unimportant.

Apple rose to fame on the back of their design. Nokia as well. Both companies are famous for design and their products are instantly recognizable the world over.

Johny Ives probably isn't leaving Apple anytime soon.

But Marko just leave Nokia. BlackBerry needs less design by committee and more attention to detail. Marko could bring that harmony to BlackBerry products if given the reigns as Chief of Design. BlackBerry needs phones people will lust after and BlackBerry 10 as good as it is still needs some refinement of it's visuals and tweaking of the way it flows.

When an industry superstar becomes a free agent, you've got a team that's in the process of rebuilding to challenge the best in the business, and you've got cash in the bank, you'd be foolish not to at least make the man an offer.

BlackBerry has been churning out 'good enough' smartphones for years now. Well, just barely passable as midrange phones with no standout features aren't cutting it and all three BB 10 phones thus far have pretty much flopped.

BlackBerry needs some one with real passion, vision, and experience to head up product design. Marko is without question the best free agent on the market right now.

Are you now saying that the design of BB10 is what causing the lackluster sale?

Posted via CB10

Originally Posted by wincyUt

Are you now saying that the design of BB10 is what causing the lackluster sale?

Posted via CB10

No, that's not what I'm saying.

But I am saying BlackBerry has not introduced anything really original with BB 10 from a functional standpoint outside of the Hub and even that is a variation on the idea of the Windows Phone People Hub.

BlackBerry 10 has potential to change the way we think about computing and do things no one else can. But where it stands today, it's not delivering on that potential. It matches the competition, it has yet to leapfrog anyone.

So, what I am saying is that BlackBerry has enough struggles ahead of it, and it could use ever possible advantage it can get.

Design has been completely stagnant at BlackBerry. Getting an industry superstar like Marko on board could change the design story at BlackBerry. It could help them craft phones that people lust for. It could help them polish the software to be truly beautiful.

Plus, hiring a guy like Marko would instil faith investors and the public that BlackBerry is here for the long haul and looking to turn around areas of weakness.

Well I guess at least he would let TAT be creative and not hold them back.

PS: I do not see this guy coming to BB anytime soon when he could probably get a job at any company. He has already been around to see one company be broken up and I do not think he would want to see another!

Originally Posted by mathking606

Well I guess at least he would let TAT be creative and not hold them back.

PS: I do not see this guy coming to BB anytime soon when he could probably get a job at any company. He has already been around to see one company be broken up and I do not think he would want to see another!

Perhaps not. But if BlackBerry did manage to make him an offer worth his time and agreed to give him the reigns over hardware and software design like he had at Nokia, then I think it would also show commitment from BlackBerry that they are going to give this new Platform every possible advantage and stick it out for the long haul and not be broken up or dissolved through acquisition.

He'd also be close to TAT as he is in Finland and they are in Sweden. He would definitely not hinder their creativity and likely give TAT renewed energy to push forward their innovations. I doubt he'd want to move to Canada though.

Except... Marko Ahtisaari helped sink Nokia...

They wasted years pursuing Maemo/Meego, wasting precious time that they could have spent either building a new, solid OS or adopting Android.

By the time Nokia finally realized, that Meego would be too little, too late, it was 2010, and they were forced to dump their Meego efforts as the platform wasn't viable, and go with WP7.

Anybody who had any involvement with Nokias upper management, Symbian and Meego should be avoided like the plague in this industry IMHO.

Originally Posted by CrackedBarry

Except... Marko Ahtisaari helped sink Nokia...

They wasted years pursuing Maemo/Meego, wasting precious time that they could have spent either building a new, solid OS or adopting Android.

By the time Nokia finally realized, that Meego would be too little, too late, it was 2010, and they were forced to dump their Meego efforts as the platform wasn't viable, and go with WP7.

Anybody who had any involvement with Nokias upper management, Symbian and Meego should be avoided like the plague in this industry IMHO.

Marko had nothing to do with it. He is a designer and his work is hailed as the best in the industry.

MeeGo is what killed Nokia. Had they not tied the knot with Intel and merged Maemo and Moblin what we know of today as MeeGo Harmaten and the N9 would have been called Meamo 6 and been done 2 years earlier. The other problem was the religion of Symbian within Nokia that led to Meamo always taking a back seat and not getting the push it so deserved.

Politics killed Nokia. Design and craftsmanship were never part of the problem at Niokia. The design and craftsmanship of their products is precisely why Microsoft bought the hardware division. But they didn't get the brains of the operation. Which creates an opportunity for BlackBerry to inject some badly needed fresh thinking into the way it builds phones.

Marko is a strong believer in the button-less, gesture driven user paradigm. He'd feel right at home with BB 10. He also crafts hardware down to the finest detail in a way that no one else can match. BlackBerry would be lucky to have him.