Nokia's Decline is Doubly Depressing

When a colleague told me to check out the “top news” on Nokia NOK, I was pleasantly surprised by his urgency “The company must be making a move,” I thought. “A new product…maybe a new service… Whatever it is, I'm sure it's better than everything else Nokia has done this year.” Sadly, I was wrong. Nokia had not changed its ways or made any special announcements. As it turned out, the company had not done anything at all to excite the investment community. In actuality, Nokia reduced its guidance, which inspired investors to abandon the stock faster than moviegoers abandoned Scream 4. To some, this might be a sad day in Nokia history. As a former leader in the cell phone manufacturing industry, many of our readers have surely used a Nokia phone at one time. But for me, this news is only disappointing because I (if only for a split second) thought the company might be doing something. Not something that involves the makers of Xbox and Windows – something that would actually intrigue consumers and entice them to take a second look at the brand. To be clear, I am anything but a fan of Nokia's products. I did not like the N-Gage. I have not enjoyed using the company's standard (mainstream) cell phones. Most of all, I think the company's current business model is a disaster. I also firmly believe that if Nokia and Microsoft MSFT maintain their partnership, they will end up producing the worst phone of all time. Still, it would be nice to know that when a colleague says, “Hey, did you hear the news about Nokia?” the resulting information won't automatically involve the worst-case scenario. But alas, that's the very reason why investors are finally getting out. If you own Nokia or have lost money on the company in the past, don't feel too bad. You could have simply blown your cash on lottery tickets or lent it to a lazy friend who would never pay it back. Worse yet, you could have flushed your money down the toilet playing slot machines at the nearest casino. Or you could have literally flushed your money down the toilet. These are just a few of the thousands of ways an investor could throw away his wealth. But only a Nokia investment can provide an amusement park experience (a roller coaster ride followed by nausea and other awful feelings) right in the comfort of your own home.