For former Nokia CEO Anssi Vanjoki, it is painful to watch a company you steered to fame get sold to another. And he is not hesitant to state that the sale was 'shameful, but unavoidable' in the case of the Finnish manufacturer. 

In a note Vanjoki sent to The Verge, he said the phone and services department of the company failed miserably when they chose the Windows Phone platform rather than other options including Android, MeeGo and Symbian. 

Regarding Nokia's sale to Microsoft for $7.2 billion, Vanjoki said Nokia failed to make Windows Phone-powered devices work for some reason. But then he added,"For Finland's sake, I hope Microsoft will."

In 2010, Vanjoki, who worked with Nokia for 19 years, was replaced by then outgoing Microsoft department chief Stephen Elop. Since then, Nokia went downhill and made wrong strategic decision after another. It was just a matter of time for Samsung to oust the company as the top mobile phone maker in the world.  

Vanjoki was also part of the group of executives which boosted the Finnish manufacturer to fame when it launched the first hand-held device in the early 1990s.