Damian Dinning leaving Nokia ain’t so bad. Thank you @PhoneDaz for N8, 808 and Lumia 920. Good luck at Jaguar!
By Staska on 24 Nov 12Damn. Damien Dinning, the man behind Nokia N8, Pureview 808 and Lumia 920 is leaving Nokia.
Damn. Nokia is done. Or at least this is the sentiment on a lot of blogs.
Not so fast guys.
Whatever stupid thing Nokia did for Damian to make this decision, like “moving strategic roles to Finland”, most of his team seems to be still there. And he’s leaving Nokia, having put it at the top of phone imaging, to pursue his other passion. Cars. Getting them connected. Hopefully, leaving a great successor behind, to take over.
Damian leaving today has very little impact on the future of Nokia. Whether Nokia lives or gets acquired for assets, we’ll know it in the next 6 to 12 months. Things look real bad today, but who knows. Maybe Lumia 920 sales are really off the charts. Maybe their bet on Windows Phone has paid off. We’ll see. By the end of next year.
While the stuff Damian led, and his team implemented, is already in at least advanced prototype stage, a lot of it is just getting tweaked. The fastest we’ll feel any impact of him leaving – is 2014. Just like losing Steve Jobs impact on Apple is an open Q even today. And by that time – Nokia either has turned around, or is dead. With or without the best imaging stuff in smartphones.
And Damian wasn’t snatched by any Nokia competitor. He’s not going to Apple, or Samsung or any other Android vendor. He’s not going to HTC to help them to get their cameras to next level. He’s going to Jaguar Land Rover.
For all the corp speak after losing key employees – the explanation from both Nokia and Damian sounds really true. Crap happens. Interests diverge. And people decide to move on to other things.
It is, no doubt, a loss for Nokia. Hope their imaging team can carry the weight.
But as for Damian leaving, very few people have an opportunity to pursue even one thing they dreamed about “at a very young age”. To take one of them to the verge of what’s possible and beyond, and then have an opportunity to move on to the second one… Damn. I’m really envious.
Thank you, @phonedaz for N8, 808 and Lumia 920. I hope we’ll get just as a great stuff in connected cars.
I will be checking out Rover’s in a few years when I’m in the market for the new car. Don’t think I’ll be able to afford Jaguars even then 
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