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Solar heated water sometimes available when trekking. Other networks just remain alive around Leh city only but Airtel may have better call quality than BSNL at any given day.

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As a device manufacturer, Nokia was not as agile in the service segment as the service providers. What came next in the press release was indeed startling. 6 inch android phones questions Dheeraj Sharma on Jul 28, The new CEO responded to questions smoothly and quickly. Note staring is not taboo in Indian culture.

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Karachi and the Sindh - a small square region surrounding Karachi, bordering India. If you fly into Dhaka, despite mixed information from embassies you can buy a visa at the airport. If you have lots of time, there are huge deserted areas to explore, like the national parks in the south-west, and in addition you could add game parks, impressive architectural sights and rafting trips galore.

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Please plan the trip with a good number of days, fly to Srinagar and travel at ease by road and then you may fly out of Leh. Users of Samsung Galaxy running on Google Android used ten times more data compared to the highest data users with Nokia phones. The overall budget was not to be exceeded even if using a slightly more expensive component would have been advantageous for a better end result. Sales, just like many other functions, were plagued by too much complexity. The main driver in the events was Scardino.

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28.03.2018 - The mood was one of both shock and confusion. Islands are arranged [linked by] 26 different atols and are divided in to roughly three types: According to an interviewee who worked with the communications department, it was clear that Elop understood the importance of communications and followed closely what the Finnish press wrote about him and Nokia. Their primary products were semiconductors, motherboards, memory circuits and integrated circuits. Lonely Planet is poor, with many errors. Microsoft shareholders were furious, and the company finally had to change its policies in supporting its leaders. This book seeks answers to the questions left unanswered in the memoirs of the former Nokia chairman Jorma Ollila:

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28.03.2018 - Hints about the acute crisis were impossible to find even between the lines. In Augustthe Nokia Board of Directors made the final decision. Trendy buzz words and phrases like cloud computing, social media, tablets, apps and so on popped up during the speech naturally. However, let's be fair, with huge and complex countries like India, only half the story is told. It seems impossible to gauge the strength of these drinks. Much less hassle than in India, though it is prudent to avoid parts of Colombo after dark, and groping on buses can be a problem.

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23.03.2018 - However staring and propositioning are not crimes and to some extent underlines the cultural differences which is part of travel. It was the year An employee working in the strategy department resorted to check the true status of upcoming phone projects from a friend working in development, because the official status given could not be trusted. Elop sensed that Ballmer was interested in him, if there was a suitable position open. Marijuana easily available and often seen growing wild whilst trekking. The hill country gets a more even dousing of rain year-round. After reading ur blog feeling a bit relaxed but plz help me what possible I can do to get connected.

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What is strikingly evident is the affection of these former Nokians towards the company. During their days at the company, they believed they were building the future; afterward, they mourn over the wreckage left behind.

Ultimately, many just needed to tell us their side of the story. To that end, the point of view will shift from chapter to chapter, as the events are observed through the eyes of engineers, middle management, top leaders, and the Nokia Board of Directors, but together seeking to answer one simple question: Could the demise of Nokia have been prevented if there had been a different CEO?

Nokia mobile phones are now history and unlikely to come back; its customers will move on to something else. Hundreds of startups have been founded by ex-Nokians, creating and dominating new markets.

The future of the renewed Nokia, one with a renewed concentration on networks and location based-services, looks bright. In the end, one can learn and benefit from the good and bad choices, but what is truly important is to progress.

More explanation in the addendum to the glossary in Appendix 2. News editor Mirjami Saarinen confesses she has only vague recollections of the end of a certain workday in The morning, however she remembers crystal clear.

It was September 10, The majority of the staff of Kauppalehti, a major Finnish business paper, was attending a morning seminar downtown Helsinki. The title was so startling that Ranta started to read the release aloud.

The atmosphere at the news desk became electric. She can still remember, how the staff was returning hurriedly back from the seminar, where the news broke amidst the breakfast.

After that point, she can hardly remember anything clearly. As it was a Friday, Kauppalehti, as a 5-day paper, had a dilemma. The rest of the Finnish media would consume the news completely during the weekend, but Kauppalehti still had to be able to produce pertinent news for the Monday paper.

Based on her experience, Saarinen knew what she had to do. First, she collected all available editors to work on the news. At the same time she worked on fast news flashes for the online front page.

After that, the team started to think angles, which would be still topical on Monday. Would the news still be front page material on Monday, or would it end up on page three?

How many pages to allocate and so on. At the same time it had to be decided, who would attend the coming press conference. According to Saarinen the rest of the day was like controlling a huge traffic jam.

What came next in the press release was indeed startling. Who on earth was Stephen Elop? A man nobody had heard of! Was he really the best of available bad options?

And what a strange name! Saarinen had quickly half a dozen editors working on the news, and more info started to flow in. More renowned globally than in Finland.

A photographer, two editors and news editor-in-chief Arno Ahosniemi headed for the press conference starting at 1 p. The auditorium of the Nokia headquarters in Keilaniemi Espoo was filled by members of all relevant established Finnish media as well as international media having presence in Finland, including Reuters and Bloomberg.

This was news also at the global level. The stars of the show kept waiting for themselves for a moment, then it all started. Two figures well known by the Finnish media entered the room: They were accompanied by a smallish, rather sympathetic looking man.

He had an unaffected, even modest look. His tie, combining wine-red and red, appeared almost Soviet Union-like. Moreover, his grey suit and white grey shirt oozed of caution. He had an army-style haircut and his dull-looking glasses seemed to fit poorly behind the ears.

That man was not the next Steve Jobs, was the quick, collective verdict of the room. Jorma Ollila quickly took the reins. He introduced Elop and emphasized that the whole of the Nokia board had been actively participating the selection of the new CEO.

According to Ollila, Elop had a great combination of software background and proven leadership skills to match the challenge. Elop was someone, who could understand the very core and the possibilities of Nokia, Ollila estimated.

He shook hands with Ollila and swung behind the small round table filled with microphones. It took but a few seconds to realize the man was a master with the words. Smooth appearance and a reliable presence were like a magic wand, erasing any doubts of the media with a single wave.

This man could talk… really talk! A glimmer of hope arose among the audience. Maybe it would all end up well after all. Elop started by thanking Ollila and the Nokia board eloquently about his nomination, which was a great honor.

Then he continued and outlined his vision about the big changes shaking the mobile industry. Trendy buzz words and phrases like cloud computing, social media, tablets, apps and so on popped up during the speech naturally.

Nokia had tremendous strengths, especially its super capable people. Elop sipped water from the glass and was ready. The very first question was addressed to the board chairman Ollila. He was asked when he would retire from his position.

The second question was also pointed to Ollila. Now, it was the time to proceed to the next phase with a new CEO. When the third question was also addressed to Ollila, the situation became a bit comical.

Elop, however, reacted quickly and replied instead of Ollila. In a similar way Elop elusively replied to the question, whether the mobile device operating system should be changed.

However, he stated the operating system would be critical factor in the strategy. His hands moved naturally and stressed key messages exactly at the right moment. The movement was almost magical.

Perhaps, this could turn into something. Perhaps the American shareholders would finally be happy. Perhaps this man could rescue Nokia. After one hour the conference was over and the media started to return to their offices.

At Kauppalehti the task list until Monday had become clear. Antti Mustonen would make the feature story about Elop. For some the vision was frightening, but not for all.

One of the latter was an anonymous member of Nokia top management, who had dealt with Elop a lot. We do not know how Jorma Ollila felt after that long day.

Nokia now had a new leader. A kind of leader the market and foreign shareholders had been expecting. The project—called Operation Elop—had started. This is simply the name they chose for the original book.

In his memoirs, Against All Odds, Jorma Ollila writes that one of the board members approached him asking if the company management was all right. Something that Ollila himself had been wondering, and so it was that the cat was let out of the bag.

For a long time the board had remained loyal to Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, a long-term fellow worker of Ollila and a well-liked colleague, generally referred to as OPK. The general consensus was that the problems would be resolved without assistance, but now things were going downhill rapidly.

After the dinner party things started to evolve. Towards the end of, Ollila, too, was ready to go ahead with this. In November—December the board had a yearly evaluation round regarding its own performance as well as the role of the chairman of the board.

Vice-chairman Marjorie Scardino was heading these discussions, and they were mainly focused on the operative management. In his memoirs Ollila mentions that practically every board member had posed the question of whether the Chief Executive was up to his task.

These discussions were the actual initiation of the replacement process. In January, the board had a lengthy discussion regarding the performance of the organization, and Ollila was given the mandate to talk with the Group Executive Board members about the state of the corporate management.

There were about a dozen of these talks, and, according to Ollila, the opinions about Kallasvuo were evenly split between those unquestionably supporting OPK and those having serious doubts.

The doubts, however, were clear and strong. The discussions with the executive board were not the main factor leading to the replacement of the Chief Executive, but did indeed provide additional data in support of the decision-making.

The concerns within the board were said to have grown gradually. With each passing day, the board believed less that the methods used would lead to success. There were product delays. There were decisions made based on a lack of options and in haste.

Also the way Kallasvuo and Ollila were working together caused discontent within the board as the two of them sometimes tended to agree things just between themselves.

Apparently one example of this was the decision to hire the former prime minister of Finland Esko Aho as the executive vice president for corporate relations and responsibility.

In Nokia reported a record-breaking financial result. The awakening did not take place until, beginning to be noticeable also in the language of the board. During summer, the board visited Silicon Valley, California.

In his memoirs, Ollila mentions one board member being against dismissing Kallasvuo. This is contradicted by another source familiar with the case claiming it was only Ollila himself standing in the way of changes.

Granted, he is a living legend, but also a challenging character. Many thought he should have stepped down once things started to go downhill in order to enable proper inspection and evaluation of the current situation, leaving room for questioning the existing structures.

There were rising concerns among the shareholders, too. The board left issues unattended, one of which was the situation of Nokia Siemens Networks. NSN spent years in a difficult impasse due to a delay in the integration of Siemens and Nokia.

The need for change was significant, but Ollila was not stepping into the role of primus motor in order to change the operation mode. The deadlock was apparently frustrating Scardino the most.

She was considering leaving Nokia already in Many of those interviewed for this book consider it odd that the board appointed Ollila to be the main headhunter for the new Nokia CEO, since he, after all, had been the one to choose Kallasvuo, who now had failed at his task.

Other members of the appointment committee were Scardino and a Swedish consultant Per Karlsson, a long-term trustee of Ollila. She joined Nokia Board of Directors in and was appointed vice-chairman of the board in Scardino is known as the Iron Lady of the Anglo-American publishing industry.

By the time she joined Nokia, she had had a prominent career in the traditional publishing industry but had no experience in internet-based industries nor had any in-depth knowledge of mobile business.

Karlsson born has a background similar to Scardino. Ollila had requested him to join Nokia Board of Directors in He was a high level company consultant with a notable career. Karlsson and Ollila share a common interest in finance.

Out of the three members of the appointment committee, only Ollila had experience in the technology industry, but even he, according to many, was not in touch with the service-driven internet-age mode of operation.

Spencer Stuart, the London-based headhunting company specializing in the information and communication technology field, drew up a list of Nokia CEO candidates in June Ollila and the team selected a short list of names: Among the American candidates was the Canadian Stephen Elop.

Vanjoki born joined Nokia in Before Nokia, Vanjoki had worked at the 3M conglomerate. During summer, he was carrying out a task the board had assigned him, examining the research and development operations.

Savander had been with Nokia since, but his choice as the next Nokia CEO seemed unlikely from the start, despite his appropriate background in sales, marketing and services.

He was deemed somewhat reserved as a leader both within and outside the Nokia organization. Having completed the candidate short list, the appointment team started to travel. He had set up the schedule in such a way that he could meet five candidates in three days.

He then continued to Microsoft in Redmond to meet with Elop over breakfast in the privacy of his suite. In the afternoon, Ollila flew east to Southampton to meet with the fifth candidate over dinner.

It was no easy task to carry out. In Finland he was a king, but in Silicon Valley he was the chairman of the board of an outdated technology company. An American analyst believes that the board overestimated its chances to attract a top American corporate executive for the next Nokia CEO.

From California, the view is somewhat different to the one from Espoo. In his memoirs, Ollila mentions being unsure, as he was returning home, whether the new CEO would be found amongst those interviewed.

Fairly quickly the US list of candidates was reduced down to two names. The number one candidate was the number two man in a well-known technology company. According to Ollila, he was an executive in his fifties and who had been with the company for a number of years, having risen to his position through various roles in the company.

Ollila says to have met with this candidate twice. Various number one candidates have been speculated on, both in the media as well as in the interviews for this book.

Based on our interviews, Cook very likely was part of the process and a candidate for this job. The fact that he was also a member of Nike Board of Directors only added to his suitability. An American reporter, David J.

The media was widely spreading this idea only to discover that McNealy had already a few weeks earlier denied this in a tweet that leaves no doubts: Ollila had never asked him to run Nokia. Mayer had a small child, so her family situation would have prevented her move to Finland.

What possible reasons would he have had to share false information? He could have just as well left that part out altogether. In order to understand the selection process, it is important to know who were the ones making the decision.

In, the Nokia Board of Directors consisted of six other members in addition to chairman Ollila, vice-chairman Scardino and Karlsson. She had solid experience in both operational and official posts in finance.

For a Finnish researcher, he was an exceptional academic superstar. He was a top name in European technology industry in his time. Keijo Suila born was the former Chief Executive of Finnair.

She was experienced in matters of high level strategy, corporate planning as well as intellectual property rights in European companies. Siilasmaa was one of the highly respected corporate executives within the technology industry in Finland.

The lack of technological competencies stood out in this crowd. Only Siilasmaa was representing the current information and communication technology. The honorable German gentleman is not likely to have spent his time in the prevailing techno scenes.

Ollila had valued finance and consumer business experience in IT over technology when forming the board. Karlsson and Gupte had finance backgrounds, Suila, Scardino and Marey-Semper were experienced in consumer business.

Having Scardino and Marey-Semper as board members for a high-end technology corporate like Nokia, struck many of those interviewed for this book as rather odd because their mobile competence was scarce.

It is also worth noticing that there is hardly any public data on Marey-Semper. A technology start-up entrepreneur? Someone with up-to-date connections to network providers, subcontractors, and, above all, mobile device consumers?

Horace Dediu, an analyst who is well acquainted with both Nokia and Microsoft, points out that with Nokia competitors, the boards mainly had advisory roles. According to Dedieu the American technology companies are not willing to render power to financiers or other outsiders, because that would weaken the disruptive thinking that defies and questions existing structures.

The most distinct example of disruptive thinking and the role it plays is the legendary founder and Apple CEO Steve Jobs. Dedieu believes the Nokia board was professionally managed, but instead of focusing on vision, it focused on optimizing.

It was chaired by Arthur D. Levinson, chairman of Genentech Board of Directors. Innovation as well as protection of intellectual property rights are both of utmost importance. One member of the board was Bill Campbell, chairman of the board of software company Inuit, with a long standing career in the software business.

The technology industry was represented also by Ronald D. Sugar, chairman of the board of Northrop Grumman, an aviation and aerospace technology company. Al Gore, the former Vice President of the United States, was there to manage high level public relations.

The consumer point of view in the Apple board was represented by Millard Drexler, the chairman of the board of the clothing company J. John Doerr, a venture capitalist specialising in technology industry and a former executive of the Amazon online store, John L.

Hennessy, a professor of computer science at Stanford University and the founder of Atheros, a semiconductor company, Ann Mather, a board specialist focusing on gaming and internet business and a former executive at Pixar Animation Studios, Paul S.

To aggravate the situation, the Nokia Board of Directors was manned more with fine titles than substance. Scardino was the only American on the board despite the fact that the highest level of software competence was found in the US.

To them, Elop represented the bygone world. He had no knowledge of consumer business and came from Microsoft, a dinosaur that had failed to progress from the PC to the mobile environment. The board members were aware of the great responsibility on their shoulders.

What they most wanted was to get rid of the deep feeling of frustration. Moreover, all progressive work had come to a halt because of the ongoing replacement of the CEO. Therefore, the recruitment was swiftly processed.

Elop also had a reputation of not being afraid to take the bull by the horns and of being able to solve internal conflicts. As a matter of fact, Elop had already made an impression on Nokia leaders in when Nokia and Microsoft were in negotiations over provisioning of Microsoft Office applications in Nokia Smartphones.

The negotiations had proven difficult. Nokia was at its peak, and Microsoft was known for their inflexibility. Problems arose right at the very beginning, says one of the Nokia leaders.

That day of negotiations had an unpleasant start. The negotiations carried on as they started, with difficulty. He had given an impression of himself as being a strong leader and a master of words.

On the eve of May Day, much to the surprise of both parties, there was a breakthrough in the negotiations and the agreement was signed later on in the summer. Vanjoki had many supporters both within and outside the Nokia organization.

He knew Nokia and its reference groups like the back of his hand. In August, it looked like the scales were about to tip in his favour. The board had not yet made the final decision, but the outcome seemed almost certain.

The new CEO would be Finnish. The strategy work assigned to Vanjoki would not go to waste. A new era was on the horizon for both Vanjoki and Nokia. By September 10, the tables had turned.

Elop had after all been appointed as the new Nokia CEO. What happened during these few weeks? The main driver in the events was Scardino. She was the spokeswoman on the board for the foreign shareholders, in particular for the American pension fund investors.

As a member of the appointment committee, she was the natural point of contact for the American pension funds that were dissatisfied with the progress Nokia was making.

For the foreign shareholders, Vanjoki was not a sufficient guarantee for renewal to take place. A bigger shake-up was needed, and the shaker needed to come from outside the Nokia organization.

Scardino told her colleagues that only after talking to Elop did she realize the gaps Nokia had in understanding the new era. The Nokia Board of Directors were between a rock and a hard place, says an analyst who has studied Nokia for a number of years.

They were forced to prove to the American investors that Nokia was no longer just a Finnish company. Although Nokia shareholders were spread across the globe, from the American point of view too many of Nokia employees were still based in Finland.

The investors could only be assured by a big move: By choosing Elop, the board could keep the headquarters in Finland. Those appointing him were hoping to get a charismatic frontman like Steve Jobs.

Had this been a factor in the recruitment process, the Nokia operating system strategy would not have been so drastically changed as it eventually was, says the analyst. He had no in-depth mobile competence nor consumer business understanding.

By appointing Elop, Nokia showed just how far to the margin it had drifted. If there were no suitable candidates with software backgrounds available, the next best choice would have been to appoint someone with a telecommunications background either from a chipset company, a network provider or a competitor, suggests the analyst.

Would his family join him? Finland was far away and a different kind of environment. Elop was considered sincere about it, but what about after he has been travelling days yearly for a few years?

Other concerns were raised. What about him not having experience in consumer business? Some members of the board were bothered about his tendency to speak quickly. Would he be able to listen, would he get people onboard or would he be a solo artist raising himself above others?

They considered it to be a normal feature of American business culture, deeming the Finnish business culture to be closer to the Japanese one. The new era of steep and fast changes required agility and new ways of thinking.

The board believed Elop had these capabilities. In the end, the decision was unanimous. A person involved in the discussions says that Vanjoki was considered an enthusiastic, bubbly and innovative personality, but that he was also considered a somewhat contradictory character, even within the organization.

Vanjoki has historical baggage, unlike Elop, and the board thought it best to emphasize renewal. In retrospect, whether the choice was right or wrong, at the time of decision there was a clear logic to it, points out a source who was following the process closely.

In August, the Nokia Board of Directors made the final decision. As a result, Vanjoki resigned two days later. He was not going to be just another hired executive. His merits were considered good, particularly his communication skills, experience in software business as well as the fact that he was North American.

Elop went on listing characteristics he considered typically Finnish: Openness, integrity, transparent communication, ethics and respect for other people. There is every reason for us Finns to believe that Nokia will get a strong, new beginning with Elop now in the lead.

The better Nokia succeeds, the stronger Finland and its economy will be. The commentary of Nokia personnel in the media was moderate, nobody wanted to dismiss the new boss straight away.

Enthusiasm for ice hockey as well as his software competence worked in his favour. Local newspapers were even more concerned about the various Nokia sites across Finland. The news of the replacement of the Nokia CEO reached international media.

The British Financial Times did an interview with Elop and Ollila, in which they rejected the idea that Nokia would abandon its own operating system. Ollila stated that Elop had not been hired to renew the Nokia strategy.

There were more doubts expressed in the American media. The newspaper did an interview with Rob Enderle, an analyst, who thought Microsoft lost a great talent. According to Enderle, Elop had high hopes for the position of CEO, but that at Microsoft, there was only a slight chance at this.

There is no way to make a comeback to the mobile phone market. New York Times thought the appointment of a Microsoft executive was telling a tale of Nokia and Microsoft working more closely together than before.

The mobile nation was eagerly waiting to see if the new CEO would make an appearance at Nokia World in London, one of the most important events for Nokia stakeholders, on September 14, a week after the announcement.

The event was considered particularly exciting for investors. He was an executive valued by investors, customers and reporters, who were accustomed to hearing bold statements from him.

Seemingly cheerful, he thanked the Nokia World audience for the 20 year journey and made his exit from stage, as they applauded. In addition to the new Communicator, Nokia launched four new smartphones.

He pointed out to the audience that Nokia was selling, new smartphones daily, which was more than Apple and Android put together. Savander promised a sale of 50 million devices for the models presented in London.

He also thanked Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo for a fine year career in Nokia. A large customer also spoke at Nokia World. Vittorio Colao, CEO of Vodafone, the British network provider, was of the opinion that the best markets for device manufacturers as well as network providers to be in were in developing countries.

Colao complimented Nokia on its ability to survive the smartphone battle and said he was well pleased with the ambition Nokia was showing. The day after the event, Elop did make an appearance after all.

He met with customers but not the media. Officially his duties would not begin until the following week. The smartphone unit would have needed support from the services unit, but came only second in the pecking order after external paying customers.

The product portfolio of the company was exceptionally large. By the vast product range had become a burden. There had not been a best-selling product in several years and the situation had started to gnaw at the sales staff, especially.

The company had in its hands a huge number of products that did not sell well. The still high sales volumes were blinding. Attention was focused on the positive fact that the company was selling million phones annually even if the majority of the sales volume came from 30 euro basic phones which had next to no impact on the bottom line.

The constant delays in the phones-to-market schedules increased the burden. The prototypes of feature-rich lead products were developed fast, but the completion and testing for the mass market entry took too long.

Management time was wasted in the meetings that focused on minor details such as a minor software adjustment. Sometimes more than ten vice presidents were present in such meetings. The product schedules were perpetually delayed until it became evident that demand for such products would no longer exist at market entry.

With over 6 million lines of code, the software platform had become unmanageable. Time, money and mental resources were wasted to tweak the outdated Symbian for each product. There were so many product lines that the product managers could not manage to keep up-to-date what was going on.

Although considerable strategic weight was given to the software development and services, Nokia, in essence, was a pure hardware manufacturer in regard to its profitability, money-making mechanisms and operating principles.

Up to then, the company had managed to cover its costly software in the phone pricing, but now this strategy no longer worked as competitors had started to launch phones of superior quality.

A Nokia analyst at an American venture capital investment company remembers having a critical view on the capability of Nokia to switch over from basic phone business to smartphones. The analyst also states that Nokia was focusing on the wrong technology platform and using billions of euros to its software development.

Nokia was more vulnerable compared to its competitors. Korean Samsung, as a conglomerate, manufactured computers and other electronic devices in addition to mobile phones, and was therefore not so susceptible to suffer from a slowdown in one of its product segments.

Samsung was able to sell its mobile phones for retail businesses at a lower wholesale pricing, as their transactions also included other products than just mobile phones. Apple secured their profitability with expensive Mac PCs and iPods at the time when iPhones were not yet bringing in much revenue.

According to many interviewees, Nokia as an organization had drifted into a state of inertia. Elop would soon find himself in the middle of a battlefield of middle-aged men. Instead of external competition, the competition was internal.

Common interest had been replaced by the optimization of the vested interest. The famous Nokia-spirit was had begun to ebb away. Constant organizational changes confused the working environment as employees had to reapply for their positions.

People were somewhat arbitrarily transferred to new positions. There were employees, whose projects had been ed, but they got to keep their jobs. The matrix organization structure played a key role in the management problem: People were part of a project under different teams, but nobody had an overall responsibility of the end product.

The team spirit killed any individual creative spirit. Ideological and innovative individuals were labeled as lone wolves. Yes-men with no opinions of their own would flourish.

For example, the normal trial-and-error software development technique was no longer used in Symbian software development. A person who was in charge of software development says that the problem was in the management which adjusted and fine-tuned projects ad nauseam.

When the engineers were left alone to do their work, the results came forth. The lack of strategic agility and rigidity resulted in playing safe. In the technology driven business, that marks the beginning of the end.

A sugar-coated picture was given to the management. An employee working in the strategy department resorted to check the true status of upcoming phone projects from a friend working in development, because the official status given could not be trusted.

Nokia was the emperor with new clothes, but nobody dared to say it out loud. The layoffs had started in When money was becoming an issue. The organization had been streamlined many times over, but the scope of the operations remained unchanged.

At every decline of the financial outlook, streamlining continued. There were divisions which had been fully reorganized 3—4 times within a year. The Group Executive Board was equally stagnated.

According to an outdated Nokia principle, it was considered beneficial for the executives to hold several different positions to increase their competence. During the growth era the principle had worked.

But when the phone sales started to decline, new people and fresh ideas would have come in useful. The company had gone to the dogs, at least partially. But what would the customers think of the situation?

Be ready to have tons of missed call alert messages once you return: Hence, tell your family and friends too before leaving for a Ladakh trip because they might also not connect through due to same issues, so nothing to worry about, it is usual in general.

I hope the above tips on phone connectivity in Leh — Ladakh will help you plan your trip to Ladakh in better and expected way without any surprises. In case, you have any questions, tips or story to share on communications in Leh — Ladakh, feel free to leave a comment under or in DoW Community.

You can read more about me in detail at the link here HI …we are planning to visit leh in july …and i am an asthma patient…will it b tough for me? Yes Anku, it may be tough. I will highly recommend talking to your doctor first and then going for the trip.

There are no nearby medical facilities and you must carry an oxygen cylinder in Ladakh. I think it will take time same like it takes locally for pre-paid. However, you need to consider how you will buy the local sim as they might need local address proof.

Hi Dheeraj, Please inform…vodafone postpaid will work in leh ladakah. Please let me know. No, Vodafone post paid in general does not work in Ladakh. I do not think Idea post paid works.

Hi, Nice informative article. Places we are planning to cover is leh—nubra—turtuk—pangong—leh. Wanted to know about the weather conditions, so that we can carry clothes accordingly. Also would it be raining at that time?

Dipti, you can read: Tips for Carrying Clothes for Ladakh Trip. We are 4 friends planning a trip to laddakh from Ludhiana. Trip will start on 25th of june and we are planning to reach Ludhiana by 5th of july.

Can you please tell us if its a good idea..?? Will be extremely thankful to u my Bro… Regards Akash. It is fine to travel duing that time of the year. You can check a very balanced and most common itinerary for Leh — Ladakh followed by many travellers including me at the link here for days: Most Common Itinerary for Leh — Ladakh.

You can check the nice, preferred list of accommodation options in entire Leh — Ladakh Leh, Nubra Valley, Pangong Tso, Tso Moriri including moderate cheap budget hotels as well in the series of articles starting on the link here.

For the list of good restaurants in Leh — Ladakh or eateries or food joints where food is enjoyed by many travellers including me, you can check the link here: Check the list of things to carry for Leh — Ladakh or other trip including basic medical kit, clothing, must haves etc.

List of Things to Carry for Leh — Ladakh trip. Acute Mountain Sickness and Importance of Acclimatization. There are many camps available in Pangong Tso. Yes, you can surely travel.

Please plan the trip with a good number of days, fly to Srinagar and travel at ease by road and then you may fly out of Leh. Thanx my brother is travelling from Usa to visit Leh ladakh in mid June.

He will be in Delhi for one night only from your posts I understand he should have post paid Bsnl. Hi Dheeraj, a very informative post. What would you recommend regarding provider or possibly multiple providers?

Being able to call in Leh is essential I think to book hotels etc. If you are comfortable searching for few hotels here and there after reaching Leh, it should be OK. You will get a prepaid number only as a non-Indian which does not work in Leh — Ladakh as post paid connections only work up there.

So, buying it in Delhi will not be a choice unless you want to just make reservations which if required you can do over emails as well, now. So, you may need to buys the sim again.

I want to ask u that we are person nd we are planning for leh in start of april. What u say, it works? Vikas, you can fly in to Leh and fly out of Leh as roads to Ladakh are closed during that time of the year.

Just wanted to know is it legal to carry and use satellite phones in India. Read that civilians are not allowed to carry and use them. Thanks a lot Dheeraj!! Is it allowed to smoke there?

If yes do we need to bring our flavours or we get there at pan shops And one more thing is there any type of rafting available as I can see some options in tours and travelers list. It may or may not be there, carry your own flavours.

I will restrain from smokking and drinking in high altitude places of Ladakh. Hey we are going to come on 25th July to ladakh! Can u tell how will be the weather at that tym so we can carry clothes according to that!!

Which is the best network so we can carry that! And do we get wine shops easily in ladakh or we need to carry from Delhi. Only post paid connections work in Ladakh. BSNL has the widest coverage in Ladakh so it is always preferred to be carried with you.

There are couple of wine shops in Leh but drinking alcohal may cause AMS symptoms to elevate and cause more trouble. Weather will be nice and pleasant, cold at times. So, one light jacket is a must to carry with light woollens.

We will start from Srinagar and complete at Manali. I come to know that only post paid connection of other states are working but I want to use prepaid connection.

Hey Dhiraj M planning to go on feb 16th to feb 23 , Is dis gud tim to visit leh Ladakh…. Wat vl b the climatic condition, weather n oxygen level?? Shrenik, if you are going as a tourist and have never been to Ladakh, I will highly recommend making a trip in Season time May to September.

In winters, Ladakh is harsh and if not go well prepared, things can turn out bad. I am going to do a cycle trip this year to ladakh and currently preparing for the same physically and mentally.

I have a question regarding the stay. I would be carrying tent with me eradicating the expense of staying in a hotel. Can I pitch tent anywhere of do I have to take permission to pitch tent in ladakh?

If so any idea about the cost? Varun, I will suggest you to read: A walk with very little repetition. The trekking section in the Lonely Planet is measly and it is worth getting a trekking guide book or at least a map to find about the dozens of interesting side trips on offer.

There are plenty of experiences and wonderful sights on all of the treks which you will never forget. Trekking is easy and you do not need a tour to 'walk' - do it independently contracting your own guide if you want to.

Tang orange powder drink. A porter is very handy to have, but you really don't need a guide if on a well-known trek. Technically speaking new rules are in force that you must trek with a guide and those whom are in this business will go to great lengths to remind you of such.

The move comes after several groups of trekkers on out of the way route encountered problems with rebels or were lost. However, the policy is far from enforced and you can still trek without if you want to save the money or feel it is unnecessary.

There are pros and cons to guides, showing you the right way is a big pro and you can avoid the annoying instances when you take a wrong turn and have to double back.

Equally someone from the region can really open doors culturally. An issue arises when you contract a guide who is lazy, constantly talking about getting a big tip and not so friendly. Either way you can always find a guide in local villages you pass through and in balance those in the more remote communities will benefit from the wage you pay more than perhaps others and will certainly have the local knowledge.

If you are alone sole walker, a guide would be recommended on all but the most packed treks. Rick recommends a new trekking route which has opened, that currently doesn't appear in many guides.

Its around a week long, is of moderate difficulty, and the route takes in lush forests and offers outstanding views of the Annapurna range throughout. You trek up to around 4, meters, which takes 3 days, before spending another 3 days walking back down again, staying in lovely villages and lodges on route.

The route is largely unknown so you'll I spent long days and every night enjoying the amazing mountain views without sharing with any other travellers. It is worth hiring a guide as the route would be difficult to follow, however you do come across other who are without.

The locals are very keen for people to start using this route as the wonderful people that run the lodges and homestays could really do with the business from trekkers.

Many of the popular routes, such as the Poon hill trek and Annapurna base camp are overcrowded, and unfortunately, somewhat spoilt by tourism. The lodges are basic showering from a bucket, and sleeping in nothing more than a brick hut but are a real experience and the people will be so happy you are there and fantastically hospitable.

There is a fantastic authentic village called Lwang on the way back down to Pokhara which is authentically Nepalese, and picture postcard beautiful. On the whole welcoming and friendly, a little jaded sometimes in the Annapurna lodges.

Huge variety, a lot of older tour groups and first-time travellers. Tea houses on trekking routes are cheap, basic and comfortable. Advanced booking is not required aside from a couple of popular hotels in Kathmandu.

Solar heated water sometimes available when trekking. Fantastic internet in Kathmandu and all tourist hubs. Slower and more expensive in the rest of the country.

Nepal is even by Asian standards a very poor country, so expect little of the beaten track, but a good mobile network can give you a decent connection even at Everest base camp and one company maintains you can get a connection even at the top of the earth's highest point!

Minor food poisoning common and at least diarrhoea. It is worth noting the differences between giardia, dysentery and normal diarrhoea as they require different medications.

Walking footwear to trek, thermal leggings and a top: There are literally thousands of cheap crafts that you will want to buy and much else besides. Getting into the mountains will require trekking or an internal flight that will be subject to weather conditions and in heavy demand in the high season.

Rough Guide Nepal, buy second hand there or cheaply from the shops in Kathmandu. Having a guide in an electronic format on your trek will ensure you don't have to deal with the extra weight of the print format.

Fantastic selection of new and second hand books. Read 'Into Thin Air' for that Everest climbing experience. English language cable TV, a few bars in Kathmandu have big screens. The budget eating capital of the world, cheap with huge variety.

Beware if you have a problem with MSG, since it ends up in many dishes. Avoid beef since it is poor quality and Hindu Nepalese do not eat it. Buffalo is tough but very tasty.

A few offers of hash and taxis in the main tourist area in Kathmandu, almost none elsewhere. Great bars and beer. Marijuana easily available and often seen growing wild whilst trekking.

How to describe Pakistan? If you want a one-worder then you need no more than three letters: India without the hassle, Nepal without the crowds. Then again it's a little more complicated than that and probably more than any other country on the planet your opinion will depend on what part s you see.

Whereas the three letters of 'wow' is undoubtedly the impression most will have visiting Northern areas, others might be forgiven for thinking of a few four letter words after making trips through the south of the country where travel is quite different.

Pakistan's main attractions are the mind boggling market town of Peshawar and the amazing, stunning and accessible jagged mountain scenery in the far north. Few travellers venture to Pakistan — it even seems to have become a bad word on traveller circuits.

A poor media image, tension with India, terrorism, earthquakes, poverty Come see views you won't believe, meet some of the world's friendliest people. Experience some of the best Asia has to offer.

Pakistan comes highly recommended. The main feature and highlight of Pakistan is the Karakoram Highway KKH which neither crosses the Karakoram Pass nor is anything close to a smooth highway. This incredibly useful road is the only dependable overland route between China and the Subcontinent.

Originating in Islamabad and terminating in Kashgar, China, the KKH is something that every traveller should aspire to see. The area often referred to as Pakistani Kashmir inc. Away from the KKH, to name a few highlights - Islamabad is about the gentlest introduction to the continent you could get.

Peshawar is a photogenic, hectic meddle of cultures and people. Spots like the Kalash valley in the Hindu Kush are stunning and culturally fascinating. Women travellers will notice considerably less hassle in the north.

Steep mountains and deep valleys make travel awe inspiring. The rest of Pakistan is not quite such a dream. Lahore and the area directly below Islamabad can be loosely compared to India and are not of great interest.

Further south the tone of the country changes. Ancient wonders can be hard to appreciate and the heat is oppressive as the country and the people begin to change.

Islamic tones are stronger and cities like Karachi are inherently violent and not a place for backpackers. If you do find yourself planning to venture through this part of the country i.

The KKH, particularly at a slow pace e. Around Karimabad and Passu are stunning. Peshawar and a trip up the Khyber Pass although it's far from a relaxing experience. Any trek and the people.

Wagah border closing ceremony with India near Lahore. Islamabad for being such an easy introduction to the sub-continent but for little else apart from some western style comfort. Good transportation and reasonably priced private transport available when needed.

The south, Lahore despite interesting historic sights pollution and theft issues. The south-west is inhospitable desert. Security concerns and an ever changing situation that needs to be monitored and studied when planning.

Stability of KKH - landslides and snow do close this route for many months of the year. Massively time saving flights in and out of Northern mountainous towns are heavily booked and highly subject to weather conditions.

The jury is out on Moenjodaro - ruins with a fascinating history, for many an underwhelming site. Pretty much all nationalities require a visa. If coming from China get in Hong Kong or Beijing, there are none available in Kashgar or on the border.

Visas also available in India and Iran. Many choose to pick it up in their home town. Normally valid for four to six months. Extensions are available only in Islamabad and take time expect a whole day and hassle.

Lahore - Islamabad - Karimabad Peshawar the Khyber Pass, Chitral and the Kalash valley also feature on many trips, but in real terms few get there. The tourist heart of Pakistan is Karimabad and the only place you really see westerners in any numbers - it's the only place you could really label a tourist trap.

Comparable to India, Pakistan is slightly better value. Along the KKH cash is king. ATMs are plentiful in big towns such as Islamabad, Peshawar and Lahore, but international ones need some searching out.

Simply ask in a hotel for the location of one or try a taxi driver. These banks will be your best bet for cashing travellers cheques, but Pakistani banks will do this for you with the standard hassle.

Some mid-range hotels and travel agencies will take credit cards, but airline offices such as China Southwest and PIA will want cold hard Rupees or dollars. If you're heading north and plan to hire a jeep or get a flight take plenty of cash.

Euros and USDs change equally as well. When paying for larger transactions Euros or USDs are welcomed. Heading north, depending on the time of year, take warm clothing and decent footwear.

The best times to visit the low lands is from late October to February. Expect pleasant dry days, but some chilly nights. In March the heat sets in: In the Karakoram area you don't need to worry about rain for there isn't much, but if you are going at any other time than between June and August the high season it's going to be cold.

During spring March-May and autumn September-November it is warm in the sun but cold in the shade: It's actually okay, the mountains look extra frosty and there are almost no tourists.

Just take a good fleece. During mid-winter it's bearable in the sun, but the air is cold all day. There will probably be snow and the pass to China will close with deep snow seen snow falling lightly on the pass in mid-September.

The temperature is warm in the day t-shirt weather and mild at night. This is the high season and the best time to trek since a night in a tent is not so cold but still pretty cold if at a base camp.

Between major towns there are efficient and comfortable bus services such as Daewoo. Away from these towns local buses are what you might expect - crowded and uncomfortable, but cheap and always an adventure.

Travel along the KKH is easy. Trains have a bad reputation, but are okay if a little more difficult to get tickets for. Jeeps are used in northern areas for journeys on rough roads and getting to out of the way places.

Shared jeeps leave a few times a week on popular routes. If you want to travel these routes in more comfort and when it suits you then you need to hire a private jeep which is easy if a little expensive on some routes.

You can do such routes on public transport, but private transport saves considerable time for those in a rush and enables greater freedom. Expect most transport in the north to be hair raising and underwear soiling with huge drops to the side of the road and stupendous views.

Internal fights can be a bit of a pain to arrange in Pakistan: For these reasons, combined with weather conditions northern area flights fly below some mountain peaks - they leave early and either won't leave at all or will turn back mid-flight unless it's totally clear, expect heavy demand, cancellations and at least a day's wait to fly.

Tourists pay more, but get preferential treatment. Try to book ahead. If you are told the flight is full and must travel, buy a stand-by ticket and go to the airport - you might probably won't get on the first flight, but have a good chance the next day or if there is an extra flight.

The main routes are: Islamabad to Gilgit most in demand - a good second option is Islamabad to Skardu and then enjoy the beautiful scary road trip to Giligt. Between Chitral and Gilgit the only option is road.

Flights in the south of the country are cheap and easy. Despite what most guide books say there is a flight from Islamabad to Kashgar and back again. Some travel agencies in Islamabad will make noises about not selling you a one-way ticket - just head to the airline office opposite the Saudi Tower.

Not sure where the office is in Kashgar, where it's imagined buying a ticket might be a little bit more complex. Make sure you have cash to pay for the ticket.

Though it should not deter you making a trip, Pakistan has several areas of instability and possible danger. Here's a quick summary: Line of control aka Kashmir - despite a lot of media attention, the worst that normally happens is some trekking areas around Skardu become out of bounds.

There is no need to avoid northern areas. There have been some hostage taking incidence, but they were mainly on the Indian side. There are some areas where you should take a guide if you trek.

Baluchistan - this region encompasses most of the south-west of the country. The problem here is loose government control away from main cities, and bandits. Any trip to or from Iran will traverse this region.

The Quetta-Taftan road is considered safe. The danger in the area is mostly apocryphal as few venture far enough out to discover it. See excellent BBC News article. Karachi and the Sindh - a small square region surrounding Karachi, bordering India.

Not a place for travellers, to be avoided, intense communal violence. Karachi airport is safe enough, but it's best to jump straight on a cheap internal flight to Islamabad or Lahore.

The area is thought of as lawless, but more fairly it has its own rather arbitrary tribal law. Not as dangerous as Sindh, but with much more hype. Still can seem like the Wild West with men carrying guns a common sight.

Most dangerous areas are off limits to tourists. Feudal law applies to main roads. Peshawar, the Khyber Pass, Chitral jumping off point for the Kalash valley and main tourist destinations were safe enough, but with some Taliban activity of late, always get current information before visiting.

The people you meet are friendly and will downplay dangers government advisories speak strongly about. Hard to find a balance. Lahore - unlike Karachi not a violent place, but hotel rip-offs are common, even in nicer mid-range places.

Be very careful of valuables in hotel rooms - don't leave your money in one or let the staff know when you plan to leave theft will be at the last minute. It's out of date, but like the other option, the Footprint Northern Pakistan, it's still reliable and with much more detail.

The LP for Pakistan and many other countries is available in Islamabad and from a great little book stall on the Indian border crossing. As you might expect in a country the size and geographic location of Pakistan, locals come in many flavours and forms.

Afghans are easily spotted in and around Peshawar. Heading north there is a huge medley of ethnic groups: Generally speaking Pakistanis are extremely friendly and welcoming.

As a rule of thumb big city folk will be less friendly. Lahore for example has something approaching the hassle you might find in India, but working your way north up the KKH it gets friendlier with some ethnic groups around Passu and Sust being extremely welcoming to travellers.

Exceptions with the north being such a patchwork of cultures it's hard to generalise would be a few paranoid and less than welcoming locals in off-the-beaten-track KKH trekking areas - nothing a guide can't help you with.

And of course in the many sensitive religious areas of the country, if you want to be treated with respect and be welcomed, you must dress appropriately and conservatively - both men and women.

Travellers often think Pakistan is less Muslim than Iran. However, many religious assumptions are the same. However as with Iran, the fact this is an Islamic Republic should not put anyone off travelling if done sensibly.

You won't see too many Americans or Israelis that's for sure although the Americans that do make it are very much welcomed. Expect a good number of Dutch, English and Japanese with the rest made up by other European nationalities and Ozzies.

Really depends on the time of year and political situation. Mid-summer before on the KKH would be pretty busy. In late just before the major earthquake, things really seemed to be picking up again.

Plenty of rooms in most towns. Along the KKH almost any village on a road will have a cheap guest house. Always cheap and very cheap options available. On the tourist trail in the North you can expect some excellent value mid-range options.

Travel slightly out of season to get great discounts. Likewise, in places like Swat, prices rise big style in the summer. Plenty of places to pitch tents, but why would you with such cheap options abundant?

Many rustic spots have lodges owned by the forestry commission. Expect some great views and orchard-set places to stay on the KKH. Guesthouses normally have plenty of blankets but in midwinter a sleeping bag is useful.

In big towns it's the normal soulless fare. There is no well-run teahouse situation as in Nepal for trekkers. If trekking at length you need a tent this can normally be arranged locally - easy to sort out in main trekking areas on the KKH, besides there are plenty of good day treks if you are fairly fit.

You get what you pay for and in dirt cheap and cheap rooms don't expect hot water. In nice still cheap accommodation on the tourist trail, hot water no problem. Rooms for half this easy to find. You will find a pretty good selection of western fiction and guide books in Karimabad and an excellent selection in Islamabad including international magazines and maps.

In Islamabad the best book shops are in the area known as F9. You will find basic English language fiction in many other towns. It's worth noting that there is a good second-hand book stall at the Indian border.

It's small, but will have a few reasonable reads and guidebooks for India, China, Nepal, Iran and beyond. There are many great books on mountaineering in Pakistan mainly on K2 and any reading on 'The Great Game' is worthwhile and interesting.

To view a few digital camera shot movies taken in Pakistan, click here. Transport is easy and it is the only reliable overland route into China from the sub-continent. You need to arrange your onward visas before you leave Islamabad, or if heading into Pakistan, before you get to Kashgar.

At this point mountains appear and the scenery becomes jaw-dropping as Nanga Parbat m comes into sight. There are some good trekking areas, but few stop travelling all the way to Gilgit 4 hours on in one go.

Gilgit is the biggest town in the region and apart from being a transport hub has few sights. Most fly a few daily flights, weather permitting in and out of Gilgit. From Gilgit you are about a day away from the border, but could spend weeks taking in the road there.

The scenery is stunning with many day treks and the travellers' hub of Karimabad, which has plenty to keep you there for days, is a few hours up the road. From there, Passu and Sost are again only a few hours north, but it's worth stopping, particularly in Passu with its candlestick-like jagged peaks - the mountains start to get much starker.

The road is single track tarred, but with the danger of frequent landslides. From Sust, the next stop is the border where an international bus will drop you in Kashgar in two days stopping overnight unless you have rented your own transport.

If you are not going to China, the views from Sust to the border can only be seen with private transport and are less spectacular than what you would have already seen. From Sust you ascend fast reaching the border pass at about metres.

There's nothing up there, but high grasslands and nomads - it's stark and beautiful. The road is unsealed once in China, but not too bad. The journey then continues on high grassland with huge mountains in the distance past the stunning Lake Karakul see image where you could stay a night if you don't expect much comfort and don't mind the cold.

From there the road enters a valley as it descends gradually and you enter China proper. Next stop, Kashgar - roughly nine hours travel in total. The bus is not great but not too bad. There are loads of easy one day to three day treks on and around the KKH although their have been security problems with some.

All can be done in a day from the right village or in a more relaxed two days. The Lonely Planet vastly overestimates the time needed for fit individuals to do many treks e.

In Karimabad and Passu you can find many guides who will take you on longer treks and have all the necessary kit. Treks to see K2 are long and difficult especially the base camp, not to be compared to getting to Everest base camp.

On the KKH, Karimabad has a few internet places, but don't expect to find many or any others.

University sri rough tough mobile phones india

Operation Elop The final years of Nokia’s mobile phones Table of Contents. Chapter 1. Foreword Chapter 2. Hope awakens Chapter 3. Mr. Vanjoki, last minute runner-up.





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What would happen to them? What about the products? Elop built from this a second leadership philosophy: Everyone supports everyone else, no one is more important than anyone else. Arms linked, everyone together.

Macromedia had the best financial results during that seven months than it previously had during its entire history. After pushing through to the end with the merger, Elop continued with Adobe with the title WWFO, world wide field officer.

He was responsible for sales, country-specific marketing, partnering and customer service. His last work day at Adobe fell exactly one year from the time he had started at the company. If his term had lasted less than a year, he would have not gotten the extras.

Elop was clearly swimming in money. Next stop would be Microsoft. But first to Juniper. They manufacture network equipment, meaning hardware. Aside from software, Elop gained experience with hardware in this way.

Even if Elop was not the CEO, on the headhunter lists he was already one of the absolute elite at this stage, and could definitely get a job in the senior management of any major IT company.

The jump over to hardware manufacturing added to his value, even if there were no great achievements made during his year at Juniper. During this period, Nokia was at the top of its game.

Its market share had surpassed 40 percent for the first time. Elop won the jackpot on the eve of Thanksgiving in They talked about information technology, the change brought in by mobile phones, cloud services and Google.

Elop sensed that Ballmer was interested in him, if there was a suitable position open. There might just be one opening up, so they met again after a few months. There were also other Microsoft leaders along, including Bill Gates.

The family still lived in Hamilton. They all sat around the fireplace in the room downstairs. They talked the whole afternoon into evening. Nancy Elop was especially pleased with the visit.

She was able to ask Ballmer what kinds of schools they have there in Redmond, Washington. A few days later, Ballmer called and asked Elop to come to work. Elop was stuck in a difficult quandary.

He was supposed to start as the CEO of Juniper. There was already a briefing prepared about the nomination. Elop described the decision as the most difficult one he had made in his life up till that point.

Even if Elop was totally unknown in Finland when he was appointed at Nokia, in North America he had become a star. It is the Office software, which belonged to the Business Division.

Windows brought in 27 percent of the sales, the Business Division 31 percent. It was estimated that there were half a billion users at the time. However, Microsoft faced a challenge with the Office suite of software that includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and a few other programs.

Google had started to offer the same services over the internet for free. So users could make texts, spreadsheets, and slide presentations without paying for software. The documents were also saved there.

Elop started to work on a solution for this problem. He had a move to Redmond ahead of him, this time a real move. The Silicon Valley Elop had commuted from Hamilton by plane.

The family had grown to 7 over the years. Having children was an adventure, and required a lot of persistence. The countries were in agreement on one thing: The Elops pushed, persuaded, and negotiated.

They did some hard work, until eight months later, the heavens opened up. The papers were in their hands and the Elops had gotten what they wanted: The wish came true a few weeks later, when the Chinese officials let them and their nine-month old bundle out of the country.

The difficulties continued, however: The child needed a citizenship. Canada had a policy of not giving citizenship if the child lived outside the country. The combination was too much for the bureaucrats.

Finally, the Canadian prime minister decided otherwise. Courtney, who at the time of writing this in was 18, and her big brother, 22, got triplet sisters for company, who are now Each of the triplets got to have her own birthday party.

Once they had a birthday party on the morning of the closest Saturday, another in the evening, and the third was on Sunday morning. Everyone invited their own friends, even if all the friends were the same.

Despite all the commuting, Elop had bought a fabulous house in Silicon Valley. Its subsequent sale became a scandal when he started at Microsoft. Elop received help with moving expenses, travels, shipping his belongings, in getting a temporary apartment, and in what he had to pay himself.

House prices in California had plummeted, but Elop was allowed to recover his losses. Microsoft shareholders were furious, and the company finally had to change its policies in supporting its leaders.

The house had, among other things, a tennis court and a wine cellar. During that period, Nokia built its first touchscreen phone aimed at the mass market, the Nokia Xpress Music, which went into sales at the end of The challenge was formidable.

It was believed that Microsoft was doomed. How could a dinosaur from the past compete with an agile player in internet technologies? Only a few years passed by, and the arrangement had been turned on its head.

Elop had built up free versions of Office, which were funded by advertisements. They had more limited functionality and could be used over the internet, but together with the commercial version, the experience was better than with Google Docs.

This direct response to Google had demanded massive changes in Microsoft. He overtook Google without dropping the commercial version, and as a result made Microsoft a leader in cloud services.

What kind of man did Nokia choose then? Everyone knew that a huge visionary like Steve Jobs would not come. Elop was a doer and change manager. The office guy, pencil pusher, representer of his product.

A general, and even his hair was short. A guy, who among nerds, starched his shirts. He definitely says what he needs to say. Elop described himself during those times as passionate, vigorous, rational, decisive, and detail oriented.

He recounts that technology is a part of himself, and he admitted that he feels at home in rooms full of engineers talking about programming strategies. At the same time, he was saying how he has passionately given himself to conversations about the feelings of consumers.

Did he have it? One of the authors of this book met Elop for the first time one month before his appointment at Nokia. Microsoft had invited journalists to Amsterdam to show off their ways of working in their Holland office.

The event was centered around a small seminar, where the main speaker had to be replaced at the last moment with a person from the US. Before it began, the speakers congregated in the front of the auditorium.

He was the Microsoft Holland director, Theo Rinsema. Elop was next to Rinsema. When Elop got on stage, he spoke in a technical manner about cloud services. He spoke fluently, but not in a way that would blow your mind.

It was, of course, partially due to the fact that the purpose of the seminar was to get familiar with the office solutions, and Elop had come to the program by surprise. The main reason, though, was that his speech gave very little that could be used as material for a press article.

Fortunately, a picture was taken. For a hobby, Elop had mentioned flying. In the online publication of the Wharton School in Pennsylvania, it was noted that there were two types of pilots: One type wanted experience gliding in the air, the feeling of freedom when flying through clouds.

For the other, the attraction was in the technology. They loved navigation, meters, and the software behind them. Elop said that he was in the latter group. The question was unavoidable: Would Elop be, after all, the correct choice for Nokia, troubled by its engineering-centric culture?

The virtual world is a long way away from leading people and managing the media game. The considerations were unnecessary. It was time for him to get to work. Its intended successor, MeeGo was being delayed and delayed.

What was the hold-up with MeeGo? A smartphone is a small computer. In order for it to work, it needs a piece of software called the operating system, just like a computer does. The user interface UI is what the users see on their screens, and how they interact with their phone.

Menus, icons, and keys are all part of the UI. Symbian was developed by telecommunication companies Ericsson, Panasonic, Motorola, Nokia, and Psion in In those days Microsoft Windows had a near-monopoly dominance in personal computer PC operating systems.

PC industry players like Dell, Compaq, and others saw their profits being squeezed because, in practice, every computer in the market had to run Windows OS, and Microsoft was naming its price.

This is why Nokia and its partners wanted to keep the mobile operating systems in their own hands. As a result, Microsoft and Nokia became nearly arch enemies.

Those device manufacturers who had selected Symbian OS for their smartphones were able to build their own UIs. The idea was to use a common baseline, but to allow each phone brand to launch their own look and feel.

Software technologies in those days were still immature. For example, Ericsson needed to adjust Symbian deep inside its core systems so they could get the Ericsson smartphones to look different from Nokia smartphones.

The resulting derivatives were called UI platforms. Nokia built two of them: S90 for Communicators and S60 for smartphones. The trick worked and Symbian became a market leader.

From there, application developers became part of the equation. Creating applications for Symbian was challenging, as the app developer needed to operate deep under the surface in order to get their apps to work.

Learning the development tools took forever, and each Nokia model needed their own versions of the app. Apple had a different idea. It created just one phone model in which the UI and OS were combined.

This made things easy for the app developer. Google joined the action in by purchasing a company called Android. As the legend goes, its founder Andy Rubin had started to develop its software for the very reason that Symbian was so complex and its development environment poor.

Everyone expected Google to announce their own smartphone and the press was speculating and speculating. On November 5, Google launched a free operating system for smartphones but no device.

This was a big surprise. Google did not want a Google smartphone, it wanted the entire mobile phone industry. The revenue would come from ads and services. Android took its most important step in early After the launch of iPhone, Google had scrapped its original, keyboard-centric user interface.

The work was started from scratch and based on the touch screen. Apps had to run in each Android phone without any modifications. Nokia was trusting its old war horse with their touch screen development.

In the end, Nokia acquired Symbian to itself but that was too little too late. Over the years, so many layers and additions had been integrated to the system that it had become an unmanageable lump.

If a coder changed something in the right arm she did not know what would happen to the left toe. Phones got jammed, died suddenly, and rebooted themselves without a warning.

Samsung introduced their first mobile phone in The beginning was slow since in those days Motorola was dominating the Korean market as they pleased. Their primary products were semiconductors, motherboards, memory circuits and integrated circuits.

And so the Android ecosystem quickly became dominated by Samsung. It started in early when a small group of Nokians started to figure out whether Linux, an open source operating system created by a Finn, Linus Torvalds, could work in smartphones.

Even though using open source software added legal barriers, the project was finalized and the first device bearing its fruit, an internet-enabled touch screen tablet, was launched in The tablet lacked phone capabilities though, and based on our interviews, Symbian directors blocked it.

The operating system was named Maemo. As soon as it was permitted to be fitted on a phone, that first Maemo smartphone was a reasonable success. It attracted a community of open source developers who created Maemo apps.

With 12, members, this was the largest mobile developer community in the world. Then Nokia did something remarkable. It partnered with the chip manufacturer Intel, and the two companies renamed Maemo to MeeGo.

One of the hardest parts of creating mobile phones is embedding the software operating system onto hardware electronics. Nokia built their smartphones using processors from the American chip manufacturer Texas Instruments.

The work was cumbersome, and especially power consumption proved difficult. This enormous amount of work did not carry over to an end product, and ultimately did not benefit the customer experience.

Instead of one giant corporation the work was now carried out by two, and the process was stalled even more. MeeGo was delayed and delayed. The original Texas Instruments chipset was becoming obsolete and the replacement from Intel did not work either.

Nokia was running propeller airplanes while others had moved onto jets. Apple and Android brought a magic term into the mobile phone industry: An ecosystem is a set of e device manufacturers, app developers, service providers, and network providers where all benefit one another.

The more apps one platform has, the more eagerly consumers will buy those smartphones. The more smartphones that are sold the more services are used, etc. This creates a positive domino effect. On a strategy level, Nokia had understood the importance of ecosystems and mobile internet, and in decided to turn itself into an internet company.

The Services and Software unit was led by Niklas Savander. The beginning was slow, services were previously developers in units independently, and partly overlapping. Music was created in Great Britain, maps in Germany and email in Oulu.

That brought decisions to the director level and turned them into politics. In August, Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo had announced Nokia would collect all of its services under the brand name Ovi, which in principle sounded good.

The launch, however, was tragic. At the time of the launch ovi. All it was a static page with a collection of icons. With time, the services began to harmonize somewhat, but around — ovi.

Colors, fonts, and the general look and feel were a mess. The smartphones and their services had no graphical or functional similarities. The ecosystem was scattered.

As if that was not enough, there was a leadership catastrophe. The model was dubbed two-in-a-box. Responsibilities were not clear, and the very introduction of this management model indicates just that.

In early, Nokia faced the music and announced its navigation service would become free. This was an important milestone. Services themselves would not become a major source of revenue, but a means to sell devices and engage users.

The situation was dire. App developers thought Nokia was a difficult partner who did not understand how important an app store is for consumers. The means to maintain a functional ecosystem were poor.

Newly finished Symbian 3 was a promise of something better. And MeeGo started to be ready for commercial use. Devices running the S90 UI platform did not reach major commercial success and eventually the platform development was cancelled, while elements of the S90 user interface continued to live in the Linux-based Maemo platform by Nokia.

Stephen Elop was abroad on his first workday at Nokia. Maybe it was a sign of things to come. It was Tuesday, September 21, He participated in meetings that had been booked for Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo.

After he came to Finland, he immediately started to get to know the personnel. His first appearances were met with approval and people were charmed. Interviewees tell that they felt euphoric. Elop gave such a convincing first impact that people finally felt that there would be some decisive actions.

From the first moments, he seemed to beam energy. The company had a CEO that felt like he belonged, but who would obviously also get things done. He was like a half brother, whom the Finns soon started to call by a more Finnish name: The good news started to leak outside Nokia.

According to these leaked insights, Elop talked openly in front of the thousands of Nokia employees about both the good and the bad things, which was unheard of. One could ask anything from the new CEO.

His doors were open both in practice and metaphorically. In a speech to the Oulu personnel, Elop told them that he daily heard that some people had never had a chance to voice their opinions.

It was time to stop holding back bad news. It was time to increase transparency in Nokia. On his first workday, Elop sent an email to every Nokia employee. In that email he asked people to answer three questions: What do you want me to change?

What do you not want me to change? What do you think I might miss? He promised to take the comments he would receive and process those to form the basis of his leadership at Nokia. One of the interviewees said that she answered the questions completely openly and without holding back.

According to the reply she had made excellent observations, which were well fitted with the basic principles according to which Elop would base his strategy.

There was also a promise to look into and fix any and all shortcomings mentioned. The main message was that the Nokians could only win as one company. Those who would put themselves in the game would be rewarded.

Fairness would be high on the agenda. This message fit the company perfectly, one interviewee remembers. Things fell between the cracks. Elop got inspiration for one of the favorite sayings he used in his first weeks: At Nokia everyone and no-one is responsible.

From very early on, Elop got close with the employees. He would interview managers on lower levels of hierarchy and even blue collars to get to the bottom of what Nokia was really like.

He wanted to minimize the filtering of middle managers. He was seen in the canteen. Nokia employees working in the headquarters could find themselves in the elevator with the CEO, dressed in jeans and carrying a backpack.

In one of the first internal information sessions, Elop complained how difficult it was to mark an email read on Nokia phones. According to his experience it was done differently on different Nokia models.

One of the attendees claimed that Elop was wrong. He was invited on the stage, and after some clicking it was agreed that the CEO had been right. The message was clear. The new CEO would voice his opinions on the product level, unlike his predecessor.

People were quick to notice that Elop was an email-person. Many of the interviewed people mentioned that it was difficult to get hold of him on a phone. You had to either meet him, or send an email.

According to one interviewee, Elop had almost a magical way to respond to emails immediately. Email replies would be sent regardless of the hour. Some started to wonder, whether the man slept at all.

The most important mission seemed to be to create trust and hope amongst the Nokians. At the time, there were still 65, of them, excluding the employees of NSN, the network infrastructure provider.

Elop approached Nokians with stories from his own professional history: We can beat Apple just as well. RIM can be beat. We can be better than anyone. Another Elop-ism was pulled from Macromedia.

Elop loved to share the story of how Macromedia focused on Flash and succeeded described in chapter 5. Nokia could do the same. After the initial euphoria of the first weeks, the board started to have a nagging feeling: When was Elop listening?

He was either travelling or talking all the time. Learning or even attempting to learn Finnish was limited to single words and pronunciation. However, it seemed like the personnel thought the worry was without grounds.

Elop was very likable and socially skilled, the workers were easily swayed to his side. The people felt like this was the first time in ages they were heard, which noticeably improved the morale.

The message was clear: If there is a problem, do something! If you cannot, tell me why not. Many people also brought up the positive feelings stirred up by the humane side of Elop.

Everyone working in the headquarters in Espoo were invited and were anxious to see what type of man would appear on stage. Elop made a lasting impression: He was warm and emphatic, and appeared to have a humble attitude towards the task given to him.

He also talked about his family and children and made jokes of himself, which was something new to the Finnish audience. There again he was warm, and very open towards everyone.

He shook hands with the people working at the Nokia stand both in the morning and when closing for the evening. He thanked people for their contribution, looked them in the eye and seemed like a member of the team.

He was active, appeared smart and knowledgeable in front of the customers, and spent time together with them. At least a part of Finland was almost in the state of Elop-hype.

While scanning the barcodes, the young sales assistant asked, whether she could give him some advice on Nokia. Of course there were those who were not charmed by the Canadian.

One Nokian remembers being confused and surprised when he realised that most of his colleagues found Elop inspiring and thought that he would boost Nokia. To him Elop had only been unremarkable and colorless, not much else.

In the first leadership team meeting, Elop referred to himself as a hockey coach that has arrived to lead a new team. The team was good, but now it would have a better coach than before.

The goal was to calm the working environment in the leadership team and reduce the fear the members had for their positions. The ways of working in the leadership team were changed quickly.

My colleagues have talked more during the fall of than they have for the past 10 years together, said Mary McDowell, General Manager for Nokia Mobile Phones the feature phones unit, in an interview with Bloomberg Businessweek.

For the first time in history, the goals, key performance indicators and reward plans of everyone in the leadership team were shared amongst the members. Behind all the talk, there was something deeper going on.

Elop kept his distance, says one former member of the leadership team. The new CEO seemed family oriented, and visited Finland only shortly. It felt like he would rather have spent his time with his family in Seattle.

The same leadership team member says that he had wondered whether Elop was actually hoping to work in Seattle, as the competition for the successor to Steve Ballmer was about to start.

A comment repeated by several interviewees was that as every member of the leadership team wanted to make a good impression with the CEO, Elop accidentally ended up with more power than he should have.

The leadership team became a poodle rather than a terrier. There were tensions within the team, caused by the nomination of Elop. No one was willing to say more about the topic. It is, however noticeable, that Elop was quite cautious in changing the leadership team.

Very often a new CEO brings in some of his trusted people from earlier companies, so as to speed up the renewal of the new company. There was really just one person following Elop to Nokia: In reality, she worked directly for Elop without reporting about her work to anyone else.

According to an interviewee who worked with the communications department, it was clear that Elop understood the importance of communications and followed closely what the Finnish press wrote about him and Nokia.

This kept the department busy, as someone had to translate and summarise the articles in English. The negative headlines of the Finnish press got more and more stressful for Elop with time, the person says.

Elop was also uncomfortable with the interest that was directed to his person. Most of the time the communications people were glad to finally have a CEO who was a good speaker. However, there were obvious cultural differences that were challenging.

For example, Elop rarely listened to the journalists during interviews. Finnish journalists expect there to be a dialogue with their interviewees, rather than a presentation. The middle management was puzzled by Elop.

In meetings he would just sit and listen, says one director. Elop has said himself that during the first weeks of the fall of he met and interacted with thousands of people who were working for Nokia, customers of the company, and partners.

There were tens, if not hundreds, of flights. He met with the network service providers, large mobile phone distributors, application developers, other mobile device manufacturers as well as with subcontractors.

There was no time for hobby flying. His own Cessna Turbo plane was stored in the US. During the first fall, Elop even visited Cupertino in Silicon Valley.

During this visit, Elop met with Steve Jobs. There is no information about what the two talked about. During these visits one introduces oneself, listen to the thoughts of the other party and tries to feel whether there would be possibilities for collaboration.

Thus, this meeting with Jobs was not related with Nokia platform decisions. It was four months since his previous tweet. Elop said he liked it in Finland. He said that it was easy for him to understand his new home country.

Finland shares the same cold and dark winters as Canada. A supporter of the Vancouver Canucks ice hockey team had also become a supporter of the Espoo Blues hockey team.

Ice hockey is one of the best ways to meet people in Finland, Elop said. He also said that he had heard so many stories about saunas and the related rituals that he had tried it.

It had been pleasant. Elop had more challenges with food. I would be carrying tent with me eradicating the expense of staying in a hotel. Can I pitch tent anywhere of do I have to take permission to pitch tent in ladakh?

If so any idea about the cost? Varun, I will suggest you to read: Wide coverage, go with BSNL any day if you want limited but good connection, then Airtel may be better but only around Leh.

You do have to submit some proof not sure if address proof is required or not. I think getting pre-paid connection will be easier for me! Anis, no, prepaid of any company does not work in Jammu and Kashmir.

You need to have a postpaid connection. I will be travelling to leh on July 15th Vodafone post paid connection did not work for us in and around Leh, we visited in June this year.

So can yu suggest which has better connectivity? BSNL or Airtel postpaid? My husband is doing a bike ride from delhi to Leh. He started this Sunday at 2 AM. After that his both of the no are coming switch off.

I was very tensed as we planned everything except this connectivity issue. He is having an Airtel postpaid and a bsnl no. I am very tensed. I am also leaving for Leh this Friday via flight.

And then we will b Cmg back together on bike. After reading ur blog feeling a bit relaxed but plz help me what possible I can do to get connected. Priya, I think you should wait a couple of days once he reaches Leh, he should be able to connect with you.

In between signals are scarce on Manali — Leh Highway. Hey…i just wanted to ask when is manali leh highway opening this year..?? Ronnie, well, Manali — Leh is expected to open most likely by mid of May this year.

Here is the thread: Manali Leh Highway Status Yes Sangeeta, for sure Wagon R can go to Ladakh. You will indeed face few tough challenges on the route. My suggestion will be to go via Srinagar route as it will help you feel comfortable with the driving, provide more acclimatization and then once you have done the local Leh-Ladakh, then come back via Manali side.

There will be some sections on the Manali — Leh highway in which you might need to sacrifice some scratches on the underbelly. Just make sure you do not bump the engine sump know it before where it is placed in your car.

You need to protect it all around the trip. Thirdly, whenever in doubt do not rush into the section rather park aside and feel the section with your foot, see how other vehicles are crossing it and make a planned route in your mind to cross that section.

At the very least do carry Mseal, quick fix, funnel, jerry cans and towing rope with you all the time. Also, I will strongly suggest that you go through and read my series on Ladakh Self Drive tips at the links below:.

Dheeraj, Good information once again. How about vodafone network? Thanks for your info. Vodafone at times work in Leh but mainly limited to only Leh only. AFAIK from the locals, they work on yearly contracts and hence depend upon year to year.

From the last couple of years they do work in Leh and vicinity of Leh. Monika, s of people travel by road to Ladakh every year. Risk is always associated with adventure. Yes, please add me to your mailing list.

How to make a budget trip to Zanskar Valley by public transport? Featured Apr 2, Mar 13, Jan 2, 2. Dec 26, 7. Mar 26, 0. Mar 19, 8. There are no nearby medical facilities and you must carry an oxygen cylinder in Ladakh Reply.

Sashwata Bhowmick on Aug 25, Gautham on Jul 12, Does idea postpaid work there?? Akash on Jun 24, Hi Dheeraj… Sincerely thankful to u for the tips u provide on ur blog… We are 4 friends planning a trip to laddakh from Ludhiana.

You can check the nice, preferred list of accommodation options in entire Leh — Ladakh Leh, Nubra Valley, Pangong Tso, Tso Moriri including moderate cheap budget hotels as well in the series of articles starting on the link here For the list of good restaurants in Leh — Ladakh or eateries or food joints where food is enjoyed by many travellers including me, you can check the link here: List of Good Restaurants in Leh — Ladakh Restaurant Reviews Check the list of things to carry for Leh — Ladakh or other trip including basic medical kit, clothing, must haves etc.

Dr Sundrani on Jun 14, We are staying overnight at pangong is facilities are good there haw is temp. There in June end Reply. You can check the nice, preferred list of accommodation options in entire Leh — Ladakh Leh, Nubra Valley, Pangong Tso, Tso Moriri including moderate cheap budget hotels as well in the series of articles starting on the link here Reply.

Bharati shah on May 19, Dheeraj Sharma on Mar 20, Hello Zarm, If you are comfortable searching for few hotels here and there after reaching Leh, it should be OK. Vikas on Mar 17, Dheeraj Sharma on Mar 18, Rahul Sharma on Mar 17, Hiiee Dheeraj Just wanted to know is it legal to carry and use satellite phones in India.

Read that civilians are not allowed to carry and use them Reply. Dheeraj Sharma on Mar 17, No, it is not legal to carry satellite phones in India. Aadarsh on Mar 17, Some tourists in Rajasthan and other areas hire a car and driver for several weeks - great idea, but only if your driver is good and not a pain as so many Indians can be, so in many ways this is a gamble and quite expensive comparatively if you are one or few.

India has a great rail service www. There is so much that can be written on train travel in India, it has had to be given its own page. Click here to view: Outside of this page it's worth noting you can now reserve ahead on the internet although fairly slow and popular routes Mumbai-Goa and Delhi-Agra and popular trains such as expresses or sleepers can fill up fast, since in India people look to trains first and buses second.

Many agencies offer train booking services and major stations have special offices for tourists. Outside of India the website Clear Trip will let you use an international credit card, check availability and is often recommended.

To really get around India on anything, but an very extended trip you'll need to make some use of its airline network, which has boomed in pass years. Many other new budget airlines have recently started business in India, making getting around if you've a little extra cash to spare, much, much easier.

However, do be warned that popular flights in peak seasons i. Bombay to Goa will be booked up in advance and simply because of the distances the price of some flights may seem expensive. On-line booking doesn't seem possible for all lines, but this may change.

Note that some budget airlines foreigner price with non-Indian prices being much higher. You will also need your printed confirmation to be able to get into the airport building. Remember this is India and cancellations and delays are likely fog during winter brings the network to a standstill - so if making connections allow plenty of time - Jet and Kingfisher seem to have the best reputation.

As at a current list of internal Indian airlines include: For some links see here.. The road trip from Varanasi takes two days with a night stop. Flying is a popular and easy option. Easy to arrange from Calcutta, Varanasi or Delhi or anywhere else with a connection.

There are more books published each year in India than anywhere else in the world. Pushkar is the place for unlimited great value books. There are simply loads of good Indian books.

One of the best India 'feel' comes from the monster 'A Suitable Boy'. Salman Rushdie writes a great Indian novel, with the fantastic fantasy of 'Midnight's Children' also very popular.

The current favourite seems to be Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts, which starts off excellent, but is a little disappointing towards the end. There are dozens of excellent books which make great Indian background reading - for a more detailed list of recommendations and guides click here.

Second hand copies float around. Very few travellers see all of India in one go, so the best bet is to buy a regional guide, say for the most popular destination of Rajasthan.

Himalayas, Goa and South India guides are also available. You will get a smaller, more detailed guide and when outside the region make your own way and ask to take a look at other travellers guides when needed.

Elsewhere on the net, recommend are the IndiaTree and India Mike as great and more comprehensive online India resources. With so much hassle it's easy to get disillusioned, but in fact Indians are extremely nice people.

Remember rural India, in particular, is very conservative. It is important to dress modestly to avoid offending local sensibilities and also especially for women to avoid being the target of unwanted attention.

Very wide range, including large numbers of domestic tourists that crowd notable destinations during high seasons. Equally you will find an increasingly large number of Russians, particularly in Goa.

And of course, being India you'll find many a non-too-talkative hardcore backpacker everyone wants to think they are having the ultimate India experience outside main tourist cities.

Loads of cheap guest houses, most a little hot, noisy and basic. Middle range rooms with AC are worth it at times. If you are hitting Goa at New Year or a tourist attraction during a festive, get there earlier or book ahead, otherwise there is plenty of accommodation and touts who will help you find it.

Normally available, not so much in the south - it all depends on your budget: Note, however that hot water can often be charged extra on top of cheap rooms. Loads of internet access, but often slow.

Phone calls home a breeze to make from numerous call shops and international rates very reasonable. Most guesthouses will also accept incoming calls if requested.

India is now well connected with smart phones taking off. In big cities you will find cafes with Wi-Fi and a locally bought SIM card can provided a reasonable data connection.

In other parts you will find technology facilities back in the 19th century. It's likely but not certain that as a traveller you will suffer at some stages from diarrhoea or, constipation or worse, food poisoning during a prolonged stay - don't let this put you off.

It doesn't happen by default to everyone and when it does, usually passes quickly. Fantastic and loads of variety, but getting ill or fear of, makes you a little wary. This depends very much on which part of the country you visit.

The difference of a trip to Kerala compared to Uttar Pradesh, hassle wise will be noticeable, the latter being just about as much as anyone can take, the prior being a bearable level. On the whole there is a lot of hassle in India and it's generally as in your face as it gets although as mentioned regions do vary - north worse than south, rural versus cities, etc.

Learn to be cool: As brilliant as India is, no one will kid you it doesn't take a lot of getting used to and adjusting. Well worth reading is the dealing with hassle and beggars section of this site and this comment in the guestbook.

Expect a lot of unwanted attention and some quite dangerous. To respect Indian sensitivities when in public. Young women and teenage girls, especially those dressed in tight or short Western dress, may attract undesirable attention.

These suggestions are especially important when visiting rural areas or tradition-bound urban areas. Bhang normally served as a legal yogurt drink lassi is made from the leaves and shoots of hemp.

The common effect is getting fairly stoned, but sometimes you will feel no effect, other times you will be dangerously off your head and quite unwell. It seems impossible to gauge the strength of these drinks.

Pot is illegal despite seeing Hindu holy men smoking it, but easily available in mountain regions, Pushkar, Goa and many others. Alcohol availability depends very much on how the state you are in views it, Goa being famously the most relaxed.

Like a lot of the other " dangers " on the road theft, illness, scams, it's important to keep the whole thing in perspective. I spent two months in India and had only one bad situation that wasn't either entirely in my head or because of something stupid I did.

In that event that situation was easy to get out of by inventing a "husband waiting for me at the hotel". As a woman alone, it is important to realise that, yes, men will stare at you sometimes leaving no doubt about what their thoughts are!

Note staring is not taboo in Indian culture. Equally men will sometimes strike up a conversation that might get borderline inappropriate in terms of what you're used to quickly, such as being propositioned.

However staring and propositioning are not crimes and to some extent underlines the cultural differences which is part of travel. In all honesty you're probably more a curiosity to Indian men and Indians in general than a potential sex object.

Of course, it's extremely important as a woman travelling alone through India to be culturally aware. Dressing and behaving appropriately is key. Picking up one of those ubiquitous "Culture Shock: Don't be too flirty.

India is not a Girls Gone Wild sort of place where you will be appreciated for being sexy, brazen, or debauched. The Maldives is amazing in terms of just how huge and how small it is at the same time.

It is Asia's smallest country in terms of both land size and population. It also has the lowest natural highest point in the world, at 2. Islands are arranged [linked by] 26 different atols and are divided in to roughly three types: Until recently all tourist were restricted to resort islands expensive and with the price of a private boat transfers to also add and unable to visit inhabited islands and thus mix with locals - equally there were no hotels even if they did.

All this started to change in and it is now perfectly feasible to take local ferries and explore stunning palm fringed, coral reef hemmed islands. There are on Asian standards few places to stay and prices are far higher than elsewhere in developing Asia, but still broadly affordable but don't expect any hostels.

The core issue is there is not a lot to do once you arrive and staying within a reasonable budget soon becomes impossible if you fill your day with snorkelling, island, diving, boat or other trips.

Local ferries are very affordable, but do not run regularly. Lazing on a beach or snorkelling within beautiful coral is not a bad way to spend your time, but expect none of the trappings of South East Asia or the Pacific equivalents such as Fiji or the Philippines - e.

As a Muslin nation, alcohol is banned outside of resort islands and the wearing of revealing swimwear is restricted to certain areas a small section of beach. Little to do and the total absence of hassle India or Sri Lanka style or drunken tourists, bar girls and blaring music is perhaps for many a blessing in disguise.

For others it is not what they expect and soon bore. Diving is a little expensive, but coral is easily accessed by snorkelling directly off the shore on some islands. This is where all is forgiven, with sea turtles, soft coral, manta rays, dolphins and sharks all easy to spot.

Most visitors will not go beyond a resort islands those visiting on a packages - most of which are around Male those further afield require especially expensive transfers or the use of a seaplane.

Those on a resort will naturally have a very different experience to those visiting independently. You can get a quick rundown on resort islands, their cost and quality on any hotel booking website.

Some are just within an extended budget price range for a night or two, but forced high-cost transfers and food costs when there soon push costs to excess levels.

Local laws prohibiting alcohol and basic cuisine. Cost of transfers if you decide to spurge on a resort. That really depend on what you class as a 'budget' and what you class as a 'backpacker destination'.

Overall, the answer is yes in the same way as it is yes for the Caribbean - you just need slightly deeper pockets than the rest of developing Asia and very different expectations.

There are essential 3 ways to get around the Maldives sea plane and internal flights aside, which very few independent visitors take, all of which are as you would expect water based on land you can walk everywhere in less an 15mins.

The 3 forms of water transport are: Typically, these are services where there is high demand, such as weekends. If you want to visit a resort islands, uninhabited islands or travel at a time regular ferries are not going - this is what you will need and the use of which will massively increase your budget.

It is not correct that all ferries stop on Friday MTCC ferries do, but services are substantially limited. Typical tourist trail - where to go: Overall it is a tough choice on deciding where to head as there is no simple 'island hopping trail'.

Everyone will land in Male well the island next to Male. Are will be faced with four basic possibilities:. This island has become a mini-resort and is more expensive and less Maldivian than others.

A crowded bikini beach and extra charges at every turn - not recommended, but better than Humalmale or Male. Alternative day ferries and part of a small atoll.

A few hotels and a great choice. The islands with the best wave breaks do become quite busy during certain seasons. Wherever you pick expect limited accommodation and eating options and nothing much to do apart from swim, snorkel, chill and read.

Mask, snorkel and flippers are normally provided on tours or from hotels or can be rented, but if you have your own take it. More important are shoes you can wear in the water, as coral is very sharp.

Nepal is best known for its magnificent scenery, but it has much else to offer. It is inexpensive, the people are friendly and the atmosphere is laid back. Nepal contains a few areas, especially in Kathmandu and Pokhara, which are so full of good restaurants, shopping and bars that they can be hard to leave.

Nepal at its best is trekking through its lush lowlands gouged with deep fertile valleys, its Alpine zone and of course through the jagged white peaks of the Himalayas.

Nowhere in the world could trekking be as easy to organise. You do need to allow at least a couple of weeks to trek, which deters many who choose instead to do some quick toured trips. In Nepal you really don't have to worry about a thing but it is suggested that you avoid the peak season of September and October.

If you have lots of time, there are huge deserted areas to explore, like the national parks in the south-west, and in addition you could add game parks, impressive architectural sights and rafting trips galore.

Kathmandu to kick back, relax and take in creature comforts. Braktapur, Bouddha, rafting Not only are the views stunning, but nowhere else in the world is non-supported trekking so spectacular and accessible.

Really well-trodden trails and peak season crowds meaning fun and ' specialness ' is taken out of many sights and activities. At peak-times on major treks, don't expect to have the trail to yourself.

Political situation and other problems: Nepal certainly has not had an easy time over the past decade or so. From a vile and shocking royal massacre, the Maoist insurgency which now seem a distant memory to the earthquake which damaged some many historic sites in and around Kathmandu.

Politically, the situation is now stable but it is worth checking the situation before you go as anti government protests often take the form of road blocks which could have a significant impact on your travel plans.

Guides sometimes rush tourists through the walks as they do not want the boredom of an acclimatisation day. Even extremely fit people get problems if the standard advice is ignored, especially at altitude.

Buy anti diarrhoea, and altitude tablets before trekking both available in the local chemists. Many thanks to Piers Newberry for his efforts in updating this section and providing the bulk of the trekking advice and Rick Haworth for let us know about new trekking options.

ATMs in major towns. Cash can be changed commission free on a competitive market. Nepal has a pretty liberal, allowing citizens of almost all nations to obtain a tourist visa on arrival at any border.

Pick it up in advance or use the new on-line visa system to avoid long lines. Kathmandu to Pokhara or the Everest region and a trek. Most visitors come to trek and plan their visit accordingly in September to November.

Some good, less touristy trekking seasons in the spring. Trekking in the wet season not fun, with poor views and heat at lower levels, but far from impossible. On popular treks finding the right path is easy: A map and a compass are very useful for reassurance and route planning.

You do not need a tour or a guide. Most visitors choose the Annapurna circuit for good reason, but the area above Kathmandu is underrated and the Everest area is overrated.

There are many other lesser known options to seek out and avoid crowds. At other times the numbers are much lower. One hotelier recommended the tail end of November as being the best time to go.

Spring is also fine, things can get hazy from mid-May and into the rainy season though not in some higher regions. Consider taking a flight into your chosen trekking area if you need to save time, though they can be subject to frequent cancellations and definitely cannot be relied upon for international connections.

Equipment can be rented [just about everything you could need] and you do not need a tent for most treks. Keep your bag as small and light as possible. In high season on the Annapurna route you will need a sleeping bag as there will not be enough blankets available, at other times and at all times on other treks take a sleeping bag or for the braver, a sown up sheet and thermal underwear and simply ask for blankets in the teahouses.

Ideally take a water purifying bottle like the Aquapure traveller, this disinfects and purifies water conveniently. If you are stuck with water purifying tablets take something to cover the taste such as Tang orange powder drink.

Items like Tang are available on the path, but are quite expensive compared to towns with road connections. Porters and guides are readily available, though the vast majority of people happily do without either.

Beware of guides, who rather than waiting for a day for acclimatisation, will push on too fast. The only people we met with altitude problems had been in their hands.

Maps are readily available in Pokhara and Katmandu. The Annapurna is now completely marked out with green dots to show the way, the Gosankind and Helambu are also well marked.

You can get away with a day pack sized ruck sack, though this does mean you might have to wear t shirts and socks a few days in a row as washing and drying is not possible near the snow line.

Thermals, a light fleece, a couple of t shirts, a couple of long sleeved t shirts, tiny to pack mac and trousers which turn into shorts are about all you need. Thick socks are recommended as they help keep your feet firmly in your shoes and usually prevent blisters.

Any footwear with a tough sole which will help even out the lumps and bumps in the path is recommended. You really start to notice every ounce of weight in your pack at the end of a long day and it's worth being exceptionally careful about packing; half of a bar of soap, shampoo bar, tiny toothpaste tubes and so forth all help.

Due to the very frequent failures in electricity supply a micro lantern with a dozen LEDs is useful and a multi compartment pill container cuts down a huge amount of bulk. If you buy your Annapurna trek permit in Pokhara rather than in Kathmandu you will find the office is well stocked with free information leaflets and maps.

I went to Nepal, trekked to Everest base camp and want to second what you say about not hiring a tour. Trekking intimidated me, I pictured huge snowy mountains and thought guides were necessary and was scared.

My friend got me to go, we didn't use any guides. We picked up a porter when we got to high altitudes. Tell people to not worry, everyone can do it at their own pace and get what they need along the way.

Also I went in monsoon season, it did rain but it wasn't crowded which was nice, going in the monsoon season is definitely a possibility. Views were cloudy but the clouds would open some of the time we got plenty of views.

We did not see another white person for the first 7 days literally. Everyone was very nice, there were supposedly communist rebels running around. The US state department advises against travelling to Nepal, but it was not dangerous at all, the communists just take a fee from trekkers and let them go on their way.

Almost all of the treks start at lower altitudes in the subtropical zone and rise up fairly high to the beginning of the snow line, and occasionally above it. This means that you can see a wide variety of ecosystems.

There are plenty of waterfalls and in some places ancient villages. All of the main walks come with a plentiful supply of hotels with restaurants. Roads have now been cut and left rough around most of the Annapurna, but don't be too concerned; there is no traffic at all on the Eastern side at the moment and about 6 vehicles an hour on the Western side which is now rarely walked.

The Helambu has also been connected to the road network and it is possible to get a bus from Thimbu back via Braktapur to Kathmandu, saving lots of uncomfortable bus time if you intended to visit Braktapur as a separate side trip.

If the Annapurna is busy the best little used trek is the Langtang from where you can get onto the Gosankind and finish with the Helambu. A walk with very little repetition. The trekking section in the Lonely Planet is measly and it is worth getting a trekking guide book or at least a map to find about the dozens of interesting side trips on offer.

There are plenty of experiences and wonderful sights on all of the treks which you will never forget. Trekking is easy and you do not need a tour to 'walk' - do it independently contracting your own guide if you want to.

Tang orange powder drink. A porter is very handy to have, but you really don't need a guide if on a well-known trek. Technically speaking new rules are in force that you must trek with a guide and those whom are in this business will go to great lengths to remind you of such.

The move comes after several groups of trekkers on out of the way route encountered problems with rebels or were lost. However, the policy is far from enforced and you can still trek without if you want to save the money or feel it is unnecessary.

There are pros and cons to guides, showing you the right way is a big pro and you can avoid the annoying instances when you take a wrong turn and have to double back. Equally someone from the region can really open doors culturally.

An issue arises when you contract a guide who is lazy, constantly talking about getting a big tip and not so friendly. Either way you can always find a guide in local villages you pass through and in balance those in the more remote communities will benefit from the wage you pay more than perhaps others and will certainly have the local knowledge.

If you are alone sole walker, a guide would be recommended on all but the most packed treks. Rick recommends a new trekking route which has opened, that currently doesn't appear in many guides.

Its around a week long, is of moderate difficulty, and the route takes in lush forests and offers outstanding views of the Annapurna range throughout. You trek up to around 4, meters, which takes 3 days, before spending another 3 days walking back down again, staying in lovely villages and lodges on route.

The route is largely unknown so you'll I spent long days and every night enjoying the amazing mountain views without sharing with any other travellers. It is worth hiring a guide as the route would be difficult to follow, however you do come across other who are without.

The locals are very keen for people to start using this route as the wonderful people that run the lodges and homestays could really do with the business from trekkers. Many of the popular routes, such as the Poon hill trek and Annapurna base camp are overcrowded, and unfortunately, somewhat spoilt by tourism.

The lodges are basic showering from a bucket, and sleeping in nothing more than a brick hut but are a real experience and the people will be so happy you are there and fantastically hospitable.

There is a fantastic authentic village called Lwang on the way back down to Pokhara which is authentically Nepalese, and picture postcard beautiful. On the whole welcoming and friendly, a little jaded sometimes in the Annapurna lodges.

Huge variety, a lot of older tour groups and first-time travellers. Tea houses on trekking routes are cheap, basic and comfortable. Advanced booking is not required aside from a couple of popular hotels in Kathmandu.

Solar heated water sometimes available when trekking. Fantastic internet in Kathmandu and all tourist hubs. Slower and more expensive in the rest of the country. Nepal is even by Asian standards a very poor country, so expect little of the beaten track, but a good mobile network can give you a decent connection even at Everest base camp and one company maintains you can get a connection even at the top of the earth's highest point!

Minor food poisoning common and at least diarrhoea. It is worth noting the differences between giardia, dysentery and normal diarrhoea as they require different medications. Walking footwear to trek, thermal leggings and a top: There are literally thousands of cheap crafts that you will want to buy and much else besides.

Getting into the mountains will require trekking or an internal flight that will be subject to weather conditions and in heavy demand in the high season. Rough Guide Nepal, buy second hand there or cheaply from the shops in Kathmandu.

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