Nokia never understood the less-is-more thing that Apple are so good at. Hundreds of phones and an overcomplicated OS wuth political and technical problems - Symbian - were the result, not the cause, of a company that lacked focus and direction.
It's interesting that Microsoft never succeeded with a smartphone, given that their other hardware products enjoy a decent reputation (keyboards, mice, tablets); I suspect it's because of the software side - stuck with the desktop metaphor and windows, which makes no sense on smartphones.
The last version, the one on the Lumias, was actually quite OK on a phone from all I've heard -- and living in Finland, I knew more than a few people who used those back in the day.
That's preciely why Windows 8 sucked so much on the desktop; it was intended to have as much as possible of the look-and-feel of Windows Phone. Windows 8 sucked on computers; apparently not so much on phones.
At the time, Microsoft's software development was a bit of mess. But Windows Phone didn't have a desktop metaphor. Recently I had the opportunity to try one that was sitting in desk for a few years and it was pretty interesting and snappy. But they redesigned their mobile OS so many times, had no good developer experience, and came in late enough that it was all doomed.
Nokia never understood the less-is-more thing that Apple are so good at. Hundreds of phones and an overcomplicated OS wuth political and technical problems - Symbian - were the result, not the cause, of a company that lacked focus and direction.