Stephen Elop's live Q&A session – Nokia brand won't be used for long, and other interesting bits

On his first day as an Executive VP of Microsoft Devices, Stephen Elop sat down for a forty minute open chat session. During the time, Elop reflected on his past at Nokia, the present “identity crisis” which dwells on Nokia and Microsoft following the successful acquisition of the former's mobile business, and the future of both companies as one. 

We also sat down and picked the former Nokia CEO's most interesting answers. In short, Elop feels no remorse for his tenure at the Finnish company, confirmed that “work is underway” on coming up with a new smartphone brand, and admitted his favorite Lumia phone is the upcoming 930. Nothing groundbreaking, but we definitely appreciate the insight.

On the rumors and uncertainty surrounding the Nokia trademark post-Microsoft merger:

"Microsoft Mobile Oy is a legal construct that was created to facilitate the merger. It is not a brand that will be seen by consumers. The Nokia brand is available to Microsoft to use for its mobile phones products for a period of time, but Nokia as a brand will not be used for long going forward for smartphones. Work is underway to select the go forward smartphone brand."

On whether Nokia will continue to innovate mobile technology as it did with the Lumia line:

"I think we can go even further than that. By combining with MSFT, we will each be able to innovate together in ways that we could not as separate companies. Lots of good things ahead."

On the future of the much hyped, and rather disappointing Nokia X line:

"Microsoft acquired the mobile phones business, inclusive of Nokia X, to help connect the next billion people to Microsoft's services. Nokia X uses the MSFT cloud, not Google's. This is a great opportunity to connect new customers to Skype, outlook.com and Onedrive for the first time. We've already seen tens of thousands of new subscribers on MSFT services."

On when will we get the first Microsoft branded smartphone and more branding issues:

"Now that we are One company, the marketing and product folks will lay in the plans for the shift to a consistent brand. While we are not ready to share precise details, i can assure you that it will not be the "Nokia Lumia 1020 with Windows Phone on the AT&T LTE Network" ... too many words! That somehow doesn't roll off the tongue..."

On the future of Nokia Mixradio, Nokia TV, Nokia Camera apps, and other Nokia apps in Lumia phones:

"We have been building a lot of app's that have been specific to Lumia, but now those people and efforts will transfer to MSFT. We believe that these types of capabilities are critical to differentiation, so you will see these themes continue."

On Elop's favorite Windows Phone apps:

"It's no secret that i enjoy "track my life". I travel a ton, and it is fun to see how i have traversed the world. Also, i enjoy a simple app called ATIS because I am a pilot, and it essential. Finally, it is great to see UBER working within the browser of Windows Phone ... i got hooked on UBER just the other day when visiting an unfamiliar city."

Asked bluntly whether Nokia phones running Android is a good idea:

"When we made the decision to focus on Windows Phone back in 2011, we were very concerned that a decision to pursue Android would put us on a collision course with Samsung, who already had established a head of steam around Android. That was the right decision, as we have seen virtually all other OEMs from those days pushed to the side. Today, we are using AOSP to attack a specific market opportunity, but we are being thoughtful to do it in a way that accrues benefit to Microsoft and to Lumia."

On whether he has any regrets after serving as Nokia's CEO:

"During a speech I gave today to the gathered employees of Nokia, errr, Microsoft, I said that the last few years had been both the most challenging and rewarding of my career. Like virtually everyone at Nokia, we worked harder and committed more of ourselves to this mission than anything before. Now, we have the opportunity to take it to the next level within the context of MSFT."

On the possibility of Microsoft products becoming as colorful as Lumia devices:

"You may have seen a video today on youtube that celebrated Nokia's arrival within Microsoft, and the theme was "more colorful". Here in Espoo today we are all wearing the bright colors of our devices. I'm pretty sure you will see this "colorful" personality transcend into MSFT."

On being accused of "killing Nokia":

"Thanks, I know that there is a lot of emotion around some of the hard decisions that we had to make. Back in late 2010 and 2011, we carefully assessed the state of the internal Nokia operating system efforts. Unfortunately, we could not see a way that Symbian could be brought to a competitive level with, for example, the iPhone that had shipped THREE years earlier! And the Meego effort was significantly delayed and did not have the promise of a broad enough portfolio soon enough. We had to make a forceful decision to give Nokia the chance to compete again."

On his favorite Lumia phone:

"While I love all of our children, I must say that I am totally loving the new 930 (and yes, you can get one soon as well). The quality of the screen is fantastic, audio rocks, and of course the new WP version makes a huge difference."

On being "awarded" a Microsoft Trojan at Nokia:

"As a result of the work that we have done, we have transformed Nokia into a stronger company with NSN, HERE and Advanced Technologies. At the same time, our Devices and Services business has a new opportunity within a stronger Microsoft. As for the Trojan horse thing, i have only ever worked on behalf of and for the benefit of Nokia shareholders while at Nokia. Additionally, all fundamental business and strategy decisions were made with the support and approval of the Nokia board of directors, of which I was a member."

On adding more languages to the WP 8.1 swipe keyboard:

"You are right - it's a great feature, particularly with the predictive text included. I can't announce specific timing for languages, but you will see this and other capabilities like Cortana pushed out widely."

source: Nokia Conversations