The Harmattan UI was originally based on the Activity Theory principle, a frame of reference for studying human behavior and development processes. The goal is to understand society, personality and, most importantly, how these two are connected. The theory was originally developed by the Russian psychologist Vygotsky.

The aim was to utilize information on how people combine tasks and communicate with each other, and thus support these ways of working instead of forcing people to adopt technology-based working models. The system would adapt to the way the user interacts eith it, to ensure reciprocated interaction.

Soon after beginning his job at Nokia, Elop started the ”Sea Eagle” project whose purpose was to sort out and analyze alternatives to Nokia’s smartphone strategy.

Soon after beginning his job at Nokia, Elop started the ”Sea ttle” project whose purpose was to sort out and analyze alternatives to Nokia’s smartphone strategy.