The boss of the once all-dominating but now beleagured Nokia company has apparently sent out an internal memo titled "Standing on a burning platform".
According to TechCrunch, CEO Stephen Elop paints a fairly stark picture of Nokia's current position.
TechCrunch claims its sources say the memo describes the smartphone market as being dominated at the high end by Apple, with Android cleaning up the middle market and Chinese manufacturers moving in fast on the low end. All this is very much leaving the Finnish company out in the cold.
Elop came to Nokia last year from Microsoft in what's seen as an attempt by the company to try to regain a firm foothold. And it appears he's planning some pretty major changes.
One, of course, would be to scrap the Symbian smartphone operating system the company's been holding on to for dear life. It's tried to update it, but it comes from an era of stylus tapping and pales in comparison to Apple's iOS or Google's Android.
We're expecting a major announcement from Nokia on Friday, February 11. It seems increasingly clear that it could be the company eventually letting go of Symbian and even teaming up with Microsoft to produce smartphones running the new Windows Phone 7 operating system. That could be a force to be dealt with.
There's also speculation Nokia could "relocate" from Finland to California's Silicon Valley, although it seems at most the "relocation" would only involve top bosses, PR and perhaps software developers. You can take the Finland out of Nokia, but you can't take the Nokia out of Finland.
But if the company goes true to form, you'll have to read carefully between the lines of any announcement. It's never been one for bold, clear public statements.
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