Nokia is the owner of the company. Nokia, which we lost: the history of the legendary mobile phone brand
05/18/2016, Wed, 15:11, Moscow time, Text: Sergey Popsulin
Microsoft has agreed to sell its mobile phone business for $350 million. One of the buyers was the young Finnish company HMD Global Oy, to which Nokia has already agreed to license its brand for 10 years.
Selling a telephone business
Microsoft announced that it has reached an agreement to sell the mobile phone business it acquired from Nokia to FIH Mobile (a subsidiary of Hon Hai Technology Group) and HMD Global Oy for $350 million. Part of the deal includes the acquisition of Microsoft Mobile Vietnam by FIH Mobile. Microsoft Mobile Vietnam is a phone manufacturing plant located in Hanoi, Vietnam.
“As part of the transaction, Microsoft will transfer all assets associated with entry-level mobile phones, including brand names, software and services, service network and other assets, including partner contacts and key supply contracts,” Microsoft noted, emphasizing that We are talking only about simple mobile phones, not smartphones.
After the deal closes, approximately 4,500 employees will move or have the opportunity to work for FIH Mobile or HMD Global.
Microsoft will continue to develop Windows 10 Mobile and support Lumia smartphones such as the Lumia 650, Lumia 950 and Lumia 950XL, as well as phones from OEM partners such as Acer, Alcatel, HP, Trinity and Vaio, the corporation added.
Nokia mobile phones will soon reappear on the world market
The transaction is expected to close in the second half of 2016, subject to regulatory approvals and other closing conditions.
Return of Nokia
Today, May 18, 2016, in parallel with Microsoft’s announcement of the sale of the telephone business, Nokia announced the licensing of its brand and technologies to HMD Global Oy. According to the signed agreement, HMD Global Oy will be able to use the Nokia trademark to sell mobile phones and tablets worldwide for 10 years. At the same time, over three years, HMD Global Oy undertakes to spend $500 million to promote the Nokia brand in the mobile phone and tablet markets.
The Nokia press service did not say that HMD Global Oy will produce smartphones under the Nokia brand. We were talking only about mobile phones and tablets. The word “smartphones” also appeared in the press service’s message. In particular, it was said that HMD Global Oy was also going to produce smartphones, but it was not noted that these smartphones would be sold under the Nokia brand.
HMD Global Oy is a newly established private company in Helsinki. It is managed by people from Nokia. General Director of the company - Arto Nambela(Arto Nummela), one of the former Nokia executives, who currently holds the position of head of the Asian division of Microsoft Mobile Devices. President of HMD Global Oy - Florian Cheiche(Florian Seiche), currently Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Microsoft Mobile in Europe. In the past, he held senior management positions at Nokia and HTC.
Another part of the business
Since Microsoft sold the business to two companies, HMD Global Oy will only own part of it (the share is not specified). The second part will be located at FIH Mobile.
FIH Mobile is a subsidiary of Taiwan's Hon Hai Technology Group, also known as Foxconn. Hon Hai Technology Group is the largest contract electronics manufacturer. It produces products commissioned by many global brands, including Apple, Sony, Google, Microsoft, etc. Its production lines include iPhone, iPad, Xbox, PlayStation and other popular products.
Nokia has already agreed with FIH Mobile on cooperation. All three parties - Nokia, HMD Global Oy and FIH Mobile - have signed an agreement to jointly support the Nokia brand in the global phone and tablet markets. The agreements reached mean that HMD will gain control over sales, marketing and distribution of mobile devices under the Nokia brand. In turn, FIH will provide production facilities, access to parts manufacturers and design departments.
Sale of Nokia mobile business
Nokia was one of the world's largest mobile phone manufacturers, serving customers in 130 countries. The company's main focus was the sale of wireless communication devices in the consumer and corporate markets, the sale of mobile gaming devices, home satellite systems and set-top boxes for cable television.
Origin. 19th century
In 1865, Nokia was a pulp and paper manufacturer based in a small town of the same name in central Finland, taking advantage of the country's vast forests. The industry is energy-intensive, so the company even built its own power plants. For many years, Nokia remained little known in a relatively forgotten corner of northern Europe.
Nokia shares first appeared on the Helsinki Stock Exchange in 1915.
In the early 1960s, the company merged with the Finnish cable plant Rubber Works, formed a corporation and began its activities in the production of cables, electronics, tires and rubber shoes. 
In 1967, Nokia created a special division for industrial automation and communication systems, focusing on the development of information systems, including personal computers and mobile phones. Nokia also gains a strong position in automated banking systems in Scandinavia.
Oil Crisis, Corporate Change: 1970
Nokia continued to operate in a stable but not particularly profitable manner into the 70s. This year was the year of the oil crisis for many countries. Finland, during the years of political settlement with the Soviet Union, secured favorable trade agreements with the Union, which were based on the exchange of Finnish lumber and equipment for Soviet oil. But when world oil prices began to rise, balanced trade began to be disrupted and purchasing power for Finnish companies began to fall, including Nokia.
Although the consequences were not catastrophic, the oil crisis forced the corporation to reconsider its dependence on Soviet trade (about 12 percent of sales) as well as its international growth strategies. The biggest changes came after the company appointed a new CEO, Kari Kairamo, in 1975.
Kairamo pointed out the obvious: Nokia was too big for Finland. The company had to expand abroad. Gradually expanding its electronics business in Sweden, Norway and Denmark, the CEO and team gradually moved to the rest of Europe.
Meanwhile, Nokia's heavy industry was looking increasingly burdensome. There were concerns that in trying to become a leader in electronics, supporting other industries would unfocus the company. Kairamo considered selling off the company's weaker divisions, but decided to retain and modernize them.
He believed that although upgrading low-growth industries would be very expensive, it would ensure Nokia's stable position in several markets, including paper, chemicals, engineering, and power generation.
Eventually, modernization led to developments in robotics and automation, the cable industry began working on fiber optics, and the forestry industry reorganized itself into the production of high-quality fibers.
Rise of Electronics: 1980s
Nokia's most important focus was the development of the electronics sector. During the 1980s, the firm acquired nearly 20 companies, focusing particularly on three segments of the electronics industry: consumer, workstation, and mobile communications. Electronics grew from 10 percent of annual sales to 60 percent of revenues from 1980 to 1988.
In 1981, Nokia gained 100 percent control of Mobira, a Finnish mobile phone company, which would later become its key move for the Nokia Mobile division.
Regional sales of Mobira were significantly improved, but Nokia placed its main emphasis on mobile phone production overseas, namely Nokia and Tandy Corporation in the USA, plant in Masan, South Korea. The phones were sold in 6,000 Tandy Corporation Radio Shack stores throughout the United States.
At the end of 1984, Nokia acquired SALORA (the largest manufacturer of color televisions in Scandinavia) and Luxor (a Swedish state-owned electronics and computer company). Thanks to this, in 1987, Nokia strengthened its position in the television market and became the third largest manufacturer in Europe.
In early 1988, the company acquired the Data Systems division of the Swedish Ericsson Group, which makes it the number one company in the information technology business in Scandinavia. Although the European market was held by Japanese and German companies.
In 1986, the management structure was reorganized to simplify reporting conditions and control by central management was improved. The company's 11 divisions were grouped into four industry segments: electronics; cables and equipment; paper industry, energy and chemicals; rubber and floor coverings. In addition, Nokia won a concession from the Finnish government to allow greater foreign ownership. This significantly reduced dependence on the relatively expensive Finnish lending market.
In 1987, Nokia shares first appeared on the London and New York stock exchanges.
Profitability crisis in the late 1980s and early 1990s
Jorma Ollila (Jorma Ollila)
In 1988, the company's profits fell under the pressure of fierce price competition in the consumer electronics markets. Chairman Kari Kairamo, subsequently stressed, committed suicide in December of that year. Simo S. Vuorileto took over the reins of the company and began streamlining operations. Vuorileto continued Kairamo's focus in high-tech divisions, moving away from paper, rubber and ventilation systems.
Despite all efforts, the company's profits continued to decline in 1989 and the early 90s. Observers blame the collapse of the Finnish banking system and the collapse of the Soviet Union. However, despite these difficulties, Nokia remains committed to its high-tech orientation.
In late 1991, the company reinforced this dedication by promoting Jorma Ollila as president of Nokia-Mobira Inc. (renamed Nokia Mobile Phones Ltd. the following year)
Height. Mid 1990s
Forbes credits Jorma Ollila as the company's savior, transforming the corporation from unprofitable sub-companies into one of the most profitable telecommunications companies. Ollila focused on sales of power supplies in 1994 and television buses and cables the following year.
The new leader has achieved success in the cell phone segment by quickly bringing innovative products to market. The phones were smaller and lighter each time, they were easy to use and had a unique Finnish design. The first GSM phone in the world was released by Nokia in 1992.
During Ollila's tenure, Nokia brought success and with it worldwide recognition. The value of securities increased tenfold from 1991 to 1994.
In late 1995 and early 1996, the company suffered a temporary setback stemming from a shortage of chips for its digital cell phones. The company's production costs rose and profits fell. However, as a result of the massive shift from analog phones to mobile phones, Nokia began to outperform its main competitor Motorola, which was saddled with selling analog models. As a result, by the end of 1998, Nokia had surpassed Motorola and established itself as number one in cell phones worldwide. A big leap was the release of the series model 6100 in November 1997. This series has proven to be extremely popular due to its small size, light weight and long battery life. The company sold nearly 41 million cell phones in 1998. Net sales increased more than 50 percent from the previous year, which totaled $15.69 billion. The company's shares soared more than 220 percent.
Nokia 6100 is the best seller of 1998.
But the company began to conquer the mobile market at the end of 1990. There was already the Nokia 9000 Communicator on the market, which included telephone, database, Internet, email and fax.
And also the Nokia 8110 mobile phone with Internet access, which everyone knows from the movie “The Matrix”.
Nokia 8110
nicknamed "Matrixphone"
In addition, Nokia was the first company to introduce a mobile phone that could be connected to a laptop computer to transfer data over a mobile network.
To develop additional products, Nokia began acquiring Internet technology companies. In December 1997, the company acquired Ipsilon Networks Inc for $120 million, a Silicon Valley firm specializing in Internet routing. A year later, Nokia acquired Systems Corporation, a Canadian firm with a focus on Internet protocol telephony, for $85 million. Acquisitions continued in 1999, when seven more transactions were completed, four of which were Internet related. Nokia's share of the global cell phone market increased from 22.5 percent in 1998 to 26.9 percent in 1999. The company sold 76,300,000 phones in 1999.
A two-pronged approach in the 21st century
At the end of 2000, the company released the Nokia 3310 phone. It became one of the most popular devices in the world.
In November 2014, half a year after the absorption of the mobile division by Microsoft, a tablet under the Nokia brand was introduced - Nokia N1. The tablet was created by the Foxconn plant.
2016: HMD Global and the first prerequisites for the return of smartphones under the Nokia brand
In May 2016, it became known that the giant smartphone manufacturer Foxconn was acquiring the production facilities of Microsoft in Vietnam, which produced smartphones.
Stephen Elop at the Microsoft smartphone plant in Vietnam before Foxconn bought it. Back then, Stephen still believed in the success of Windows Mobile
Around the same time, Nokia announced a partner in the company HMD Global, which buys all rights to the Nokia brand and patents that once belonged to the Finnish company. Many of the key figures who ran Nokia will serve on HMD's board of directors and will be responsible for design, quality control and innovation in smartphones. These are people like:
- Arto Nummela (Arto Nummela)- a person who previously held senior management positions at Nokia and most recently was the head of the mobile devices business at Microsoft for Greater Asia, the Middle East and Africa, and also led the global smartphone business from Microsoft. He became the CEO of HMD Global.
- Florian Seiche, who was most recently Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Microsoft Mobile in Europe and previously held key roles at Nokia, HTC and other global brands. Florian becomes president of HMD.
- Pekka Rantala, the third Nokia veteran to join the HMD management team. Worked at Nokia for 17 years before becoming CEO of Rovio (Angry Birds). He will join HMD Global as a CMO and will lead the company's marketing efforts. He was senior vice president of global marketing at Nokia when he left the company.
The revival of the Nokia brand has begun. Smartphones will be produced by the Foxconn plant and the HMD Global company, which can be considered founded by people from the collapsed Nokia company.
In October 2016, Nokia CEO Rajeev Suri, at the Nikkei Global Management forum in Tokyo, said that the company will soon make a big appearance on the market. Prior to this, the company acquired a French company Withings, which deals with smart electronics in medicine. With this purchase, Nokia is going to enter not only the consumer market, but also the network business. Around the same period, Nokia absorbed the telecommunications company Alcatel-Lucent, which owns Bell Laboratories Corporation, one of the largest communications research institutes in the world with a portfolio of more than 29 thousand patents. Nokia is actively involved in the development of data transmission in 5G networks.
Used Books:
- Stephen Baker and Kerry Capel, "Race with Rule Mobile" Business Week, February 21, 2000, p. 58-60.
- Mara D., "Nokia acquires Intellisynch" America's Intelligence Wire, November 17, 2005
- Berkman, Barbara N., "Brainstorming in the Sauna" Electronic Business, November 18, 1991, p. 71-74.
- Tim Burt and Greg McLevor, "Land of Mobiles: Finnish toilet paper maker becomes world's largest mobile phone maker," Financial Times, October 30, 1998, p.18
- Justin Fox, "Nokia Secret Code," Fortune, May 1, 2000, p. 161-164+.
- Meeks, Fleming, "Beware, Motorola," Forbes September 12, 1994, p. 192-94.
- "Nokia Expands Production in China," Digest News, December 1, 2005.
- Elaine Williams, "Nokia's 100 Years Old is a Fast-Growing Pain," Electronic Business, June 26, 1989, p. 111-14.
- Wikipedia
- nokiapoweruser.com
Let's talk about the history of Nokia. Origins, dawn, great inventions, dominance and inevitable collapse. And then reborn in a completely new look.
History is cyclical, everything repeats itself. Ghostbusters and Pirates of the Caribbean are being shown in cinemas again, Jumanji will soon be shown, Spider-Man is also delighting the kids, and the little ones are looking forward to new episodes of DuckTales. “Pepsi Cherry”, “Wagon wheels” and “Love is” are on store shelves. And in the hands of passers-by, the legendary one in a new guise begins to flicker every now and then.
But progress does not stand still and all this, of course, corresponds to modern fashion: Pepsi without calories, Hunters were replaced by hunters, and Nokia finally acquired an up-to-date operating system.
The legendary Nokia brand is finally returning to the market, almost simultaneously releasing 4 phones at once. But today you will learn about how it all began.
Important milestones in the history of Nokia and a bit of patriotism
Back in 1865, subjects of the Russian Empire Frederik Idestam and Leopold Mechelin established a small paper mill in the Grand Duchy of Finland, which at that time was part of the Russian Empire. So, the founders of the company were not just top managers, Idestam was an engineer-inventor, and Mechelin was a brilliant entrepreneur. The company's business quickly took off due to the introduction of advanced technologies. An entire settlement was built around the enterprise and in 1871 the company acquired the name we are familiar with. Nokia ab.
In 1896, the company took its first (but far from last) bold step and decided to produce electricity.
In 1922, the company took the next bold step and, through cooperation and mergers, began producing rubber products and cables. Subsequently, the company's production includes car and bicycle tires, shoes and even gas masks for the Finnish army.
By 1967, the company already had as many as 5 main areas in its arsenal: the production of rubber products, cables and electronics, wood processing and electricity generation.
Nokia's global contribution
In the late 60s, Nokia relied on electronics, semiconductors, etc. and already in 1969 makes a revolution. They invent 30-channel pulse-code modulation equipment and produce the world's first digital telephone exchange. Equipment capable of converting an analog audio signal to a digital one.
The PCM standard appears, which is still used by all analog digitization equipment to this day. This is how the once small Finnish company Nokia makes a global contribution to the heritage of all humanity.
In the 70s, Nokia was the first to enter the digital age. The company invents the switch Nokia DX 200 for automatic telephone exchanges, thanks to which the company successfully enters the telecommunications market (in which it remains a leader to this day).
In the early 80s, the company decided to conquer the world electronics markets. And by 1987, Nokia had become the third largest TV manufacturer in Europe.
But luck cannot smile on someone forever. Therefore, in the late 80s, due to the global economic downturn, Nokia found itself in a state of crisis and decided on a major restructuring. The company had to abandon most of its activities and rely on telecommunications technologies.
It was then that Nokia separated its tire division from itself. This is how the well-known Nokian company appeared, which to this day pleases car enthusiasts with reliable and safe tires.
The beginnings of GSM
Nokia has been creating commercial and military mobile communications technologies since the 60s. Its technologies were already being used by the military (they are always the first to get the coolest stuff).
In 1966, Nokia, in collaboration with Salora, began developing ARP, one of the first cellular communication standards for Autoradiopuhelin car radios. Already in 1978, the network covered the entire territory of Finland.
In 1979, Nokia merged with Salora to form the joint venture Mobira Oy, and began creating NMT mobile phones, the first fully automated, first-generation cellular network.
The lucky ones from 1981 had the honor of buying the company's first cell phone, the Mobira Senator. It weighed as much as 5 kg, but it was worth it, especially since it was intended mainly for use in a car.
Mobira Senator in 1984, Nokia understands where the future is heading and completely buys out the Salora company. And in 1987, he released the more mobile and familiar phone Mobira Cityman 900. Its weight was only 760 grams, which provided 50 minutes of talk time on a single charge and was charged in only 4 hours.
Its cost was almost $5,000 (to the envy of Apple management), which did not prevent it from being wildly popular; it became an element of prestige and a sign of success.
But the name did not catch on; the phone began to be called “Gorba” after the famous photograph of the first and last president of the USSR, Mikhail Gorbachev.
It was thanks to this photo that cell phones became popular around the world. At least we can thank Gorbachev for something.
More details from now on
In 1990, the international GSM cellular communication standard was adopted, and a year later, on July 1, 1991, Nokia presented its first GSM phone prototype. From which Finnish Prime Minister Harri Holkeri made the world's first call via a GSM network, also produced by Nokia, by the way.
From that moment on, Nokia became world famous among ordinary people. On November 10, 1992, the company released the GSM phone Nokia 1011. The production start date is encoded in the name of the phone (I think this day should be marked in red on calendars), it could already send and receive SMS.
Thus began the most successful and glorious period of the campaign. Also in 1992, the campaign slogan became the famous words “ Connection people”, which are becoming relevant again in our time
In 1994, the famous “Nokia tunes” melody appeared in Nokia phones. However, it is fair to mention that this melody was not invented by the Finns, but by the Spanish composer Francisco Torrega back in 1902 and the work is called Gran vals. Although not everyone will be able to recognize the famous melody in this composition.
Things were going swimmingly for the Finns. Nokia 2100 sold around the world like hot cakes with a circulation of 20 million units.
The year 1996 was marked by the first progenitor of the Nokia 9000 Communicator smartphone, equipped with 2 MB of memory and a huge monochrome display for those times, a QWERTY keyboard and even the GEOS operating system.
Nokia 9000 Communicator In 1998, Nokia becomes the largest mobile phone manufacturer in the world. If in 1996 the company's turnover was $6 billion, then by 2002 its turnover was already $31 billion. Enormous growth in just six years.
Nokia is a people's brand
Nokia has never forgotten about the budget segment. Phones for developing countries and poor students have always been particularly popular.
By the beginning of the 21st century, Nokia had released several cult models, despite the fact that the Nokia 3310, the owner of not only the iconic Snake, but also replaceable panels.
Nokia 3310 is one of the most famous models, which sold 130 million units, and its predecessor 3210 sold an even larger edition of 160 million units.
But this is not a record either. A record 250 million people became happy owners of the Nokia 1100. It is not only the best-selling phone in the world, but also the best-selling electronic device.
Nokia 1100
Our childhood dream
But Finnish engineers were not so interested in public sector phones, so they came up with the N series phones, in which they embodied their wildest ideas. They were no longer called the boring word “telephone”, they bore the proud name “smartphone”.
Nokia smartphones were pioneers in the world of high technology and were extremely popular despite their considerable price. They used stainless steel, fancy body types, Carl Zeiss optics, xenon flashes and the first serious Symbian operating system.
Special mention should be made of the Nokia N91, which has a HARD DISK. Phone with 8 GB hard drive. But if you think that this is the only innovation, then you are mistaken. This model also had excellent sound from Harman/Kardon, working in conjunction with a Toshiba chipset and a powerful amplifier.
Nokia N91 Thanks to this filling, Nokia N91 is still able to outshine most modern gadgets, and maybe even all of them, in terms of the quality of reproduced music.
Premium segment
Nokia was respected by all segments of society and, of course, they did not forget about the most solvent segments of society. They released a separate series of phones for the rich, such as the Nokia 8800. It did not have advanced hardware, but their customers didn’t need it, the main thing here was the image.
There were several modifications, differing mainly in materials; the case of some modifications was titanium with genuine leather inserts; the navigation button could be made of artificial sapphire. The display was protected by tempered glass and the most important element that any modification had was the door closer on the sliding keyboard cover, only the clicking sound of which is more prestigious than the latest iPhone model.
Nokia 8800 Sapphire Arte Black Rich daughter
Drinking Dom Perignon and chewing hazel grouse while discussing the purchase of a new yacht is much more pleasant when a gold Vertu is at hand. The brainchild of the same Nokia.
The design of luxury phones was developed based on the letter “V” in order to associate people with the word Victory (victory) so that they would not forget that their life was a success.
Nokia got rid of Vertu in 2012, since it was difficult to call it a winner then.
In 2013, Vertu released its first Android phone.
In 2014, the company announced cooperation with Bentley.
An amazing coincidence, while finishing this article, I learned that Vertu announced itself.
Vertu Signature Dragon Commemorative Edition
New era or winter is coming
Here and there, phones with touch screens that were unusual for the average user began to appear. Many refused to recognize them and considered them a perversion, but time does not stand still.
And suddenly, at that time, a fruit company little known in Russia and the CIS countries, led for some reason by Steve Jobs, released the iPhone in 2007, which made a splash in foreign markets.
Engineers from all manufacturers are starting to work hard, staying on weekends, in order to compete with Apple.
Nokia did not stand aside and released the new flagship Nokia 5800. The phone was superior to the fruity device in almost all respects, it had a front camera, a better main camera, excellent stereo speakers and, most importantly, 3G support.
The iPhone couldn’t boast of all this, and it cost almost 2 times more, but Nokia’s bet on a resistive display turned out to be wrong.
In 2008, a new promising operating system Android was released. Manufacturers are starting to switch to the new OS one after another.
However, Nokia, as always, sticks to its line, relies on Symbian and it had prospects. At the end of 2009, Nokia's market share was estimated at 39% and this was Nokia's last successful year in the mobile market.
A misdirected Cossack and a rapid sunset
In 2010, a native of Microsoft, Stephen Elop, was appointed executive director to work for the benefit of the Finnish company. Whose role in the development of the Finnish company can only be compared with Gorbachev in the USSR.
For the first few months, Stephen sat and thought about his super restructuring program, which allowed the company to release the Nokia N8, a flagship that met the standards of the time, and in many ways surpassed them. In addition, its durability could be the envy of the famous 3310. Nokia 8 is metal and durable; a fall on the asphalt did not in any way affect the integrity of the display.
At the same time, Nokia, together with Intel and such giants as Renault, Hyundai, BMW, Pioneer, Cisco, Samsung, Vivante and others, are developing a promising MeeGo OS for almost all electronic devices.
In 2011, the Finns managed to release the very promising flagship Nokia N9 with Meego on board, which has an amoled display and a gigabyte of RAM. And this is in 2011!
Nokia N9 But reformer Gorbachev Stephen Elop had already developed a new program of change by that time. He gives an internal speech to the company's employees called the "Burning Platform" restructuring, comparing the company to a man standing on the edge of a burning oil platform.
In this speech, he announces the abandonment of Symbian and a shift in priorities from MeeGo to Windows phone 7.
This secret speech is discussed even by grandmothers at the entrances the very next day, and sales of phones running Symbian OS immediately disappear. Then an unsuccessful series of Lumia phones appears with a primitive tiled Windows Phone interface that never took root and far from top-end specifications.
The new platform did not support multitasking. The flagships Lumia 800 and 900 had only 512 MB of RAM; instead of a flash drive slot, they provided cloud storage of 25 GB, which, of course, requires unlimited Internet, which many cannot boast of to this day.
The Windows Phone app store has significantly less choice than competitors, prices are much higher, and the word customization is not at all familiar to these “flagships.”
Falling into the abyss
As a result of such reforms, Nokia's share of the phone market fell by 26% over 2 years, and by 2012 it was only 3%. The company's value fell like the price of watermelons in September, which allowed Microsoft to buy out Nokia's once legendary mobile business for just €5.44 billion.
And Stephen Elop suddenly decided to leave Finnish Nokia and return to his native American Microsoft (probably because of the Finnish climate). A multi-movie game worthy of some TV series.
According to the terms of the contract, Microsoft received the exclusive right to use the Nokia brand until 2016. Fortunately, they had the conscience to abandon the Nokia brand earlier and now Microsoft smartphones bear the proud name of Lumia. There were also Nokia X series smartphones on Android without Google services and with a tiled launcher, but they were so ridiculous that I won’t even talk about them.
Dawn
That would seem to be all. The history of smartphones under the brand beloved by many is over, but that was not the case; the talents of Finnish engineers are not so easy to ruin.
In 2014, the real Nokia announced the release of a tablet running Android OS, which had a 64-bit Intel Z3580 processor, and even had the world's first serial USB type-C connector and was produced at the Foxconn plant.
On January 9, 2015, sales of the long-awaited Nokia on Android started. In 4 minutes, all 20,000 tablets were purchased.
In addition, Nokia has now set out to conquer virtual reality, but not in the banal way of creating yet another glasses. The camera is intended for creators of three-dimensional content for all sorts of Oculus Rift, etc.
Return of a Legend
In 2016, HMD Global was founded, consisting of Nokia veterans. In the same year, together with FIH mobile (a subsidiary of Foxconn), it acquired Microsoft mobile. And under the terms of the contract with Nokia, it develops design, software, promotes and produces new mobile devices under their brand.
Thanks to this, a series of Android phones appeared in the second quarter of 2017. Nokia 3.5 and 6, which cannot yet compete with flagships, but have every chance to take the first lines in the ratings in the mid-price segment.
After all, even the simplest Nokia 3 has 2 GB of RAM and pure Android, without any pre-installed garbage, made of high-quality materials. The frame of the case is machined from a single piece of aluminum. The smartphone has the best camera in its price segment.
Conclusion
I would like to sum it up: Nokia has always kept its nose to the wind, dramatically changed business directions and hit the mark. But even before Stephen Elop arrived, the company's sales were beginning to decline.
Many Nokia employees and fans saw promise in Android. But the management did not listen, for which the entire company paid.
The appointment of Stephen Elop to the post of executive director only worsened the situation, although it looks very suspicious. One involuntarily recalls the ubiquitous American spies, blackmail and wiretapping of members of large non-American corporations, which the Wikileaks portal and Snowden love to talk about.
In any case, we will never know the truth, and we don’t need to, because history has put everything in its place. The old guard is back and Nokia is alive again. We can only wish them good luck in taking their rightful place in the market and wait for new revolutionary developments that change the industry for the better.
I bet you learned about Nokia much earlier than you think. Namely, when you watched the cartoon “Well, wait a minute” (issue 17). How is this connected, you ask? Yes, very simple! After all, it is in this episode that when the wolf gets to the island, he sees the aborigines who are watching a cartoon about his adventures with the hare on Nokia TV.
If you didn't know this, I bet you didn't know many other interesting facts about this Finnish company.
Fact No. 1. The name Nokia comes from the city of the same name. In turn, the city is named after the Nokianvirta River, which flows through it.
Fact No. 2. According to historical information, Nokia was first a paper mill, and later was engaged in the manufacture of rubber products. After merging with other companies, several main activities emerged: the production of rubber products, cables and electronics, wood processing and electricity generation. Over time, the main activity of the company became electronic equipment, and only then the production of communication equipment.
Fact No. 3. When the Finns released the 3410 phone model on the Asian market, they sold only 148 units. Yes, exactly pieces and this is not a typo. Marketers began to puzzle over the reasons for the failure. Their search for an answer would most likely have continued for a long time if it had not been for the main office cleaner, a Nepalese by nationality. He told the company’s specialists that the number “4” is unlucky in Asia. Since then, the number "4" has not been used on Nokia phone models in Asia.
Fact No. 4. The standard sound of Nokia devices (the sound of an SMS message), which usually seems to the user to be an unremarkable sound signal, is in fact a full-fledged message. Only transmitted using Morse code. Thus, the signal is nothing more than the abbreviation Short Message Service, written using the above-mentioned cipher. Most of all, the developers showed creativity when inventing the “Ascending” melody. It stands for the whole company slogan: “Connecting people,” which translates as “Uniting people.”
Fact No. 5. Who doesn't want to be popular? I think, one way or another, everyone wants this. But few people know how this can be achieved, and in the meantime, the American indie rock band was able to realize their dream. They put their songs "The Village", "Stones" and "Close My Eyes" on over a million Nokia phones as the standard ringtone. Thanks to this, their songs became popular.
Fact No. 6. The world's first paid call on a GSM cell phone was made to a Nokia phone on a network built on equipment manufactured by Nokia. A significant event occurred in 1991 in Helsinki, the Prime Minister of Finland Harri Holkeri called.
Fact No. 7. In 2003, Nokia developed the first Symbian-based smartphone with a touchscreen. The company never released it for sale, believing that the market was not ready for such devices and it would not be successful. But Nokia continued to produce push-button phones for a long time. Now the company can boast of more than one smartphone that has successfully won its niche among the rest.
Fact No. 8. Contrary to popular belief that the world's largest digital camera manufacturers are Canon and Sony, this is not the case. Sales of Nokia camera phones exceeded those of all competitors. Therefore, in fact, Nokia is the leader in this area.
Fact No. 9. Nokia's signature and recognizable font, AgfaMonotype Nokia Sans, was designed by German designer Eric Spiekerman. Prior to this, Nokia most often used the font Agfa Rotis.
Fact No. 10. In Nokia telephones, the call duration timer is automatically turned on immediately when the call is initialized, and not at the time of connection, the only exception is 60 series phones, for example Nokia 6600.
Konstantin Korotkov
Before moving on to the details of the press release of the American company Microsoft published today, which officially confirms rumors that have been circulating for some time about the sale of the telephone business to the Chinese giant Foxconn, I would like to draw attention to the fact that this is a major deal, but a sale entry-level phone assets. This means the entire budget line of push-button devices produced by Microsoft under the Nokia brand. The new owner of these assets will be FIH Mobile Ltd. (a subsidiary of Hon Hai/Foxconn Technology Group) and HMD Global, Oy.
As for the roots of HMD Global, there is a world-famous company behind it. Let us recall that, for its part, Nokia announced the conclusion of a strategic licensing agreement with HMD Global regarding intellectual property and brand, under which HMD Global will be able to create new generation phones and tablets under the Nokia brand over the next ten years. However, HMD Global is a new company located in Finland and founded specifically to independently work on phones, smartphones and tablets under the Nokia brand.
If we talk about smartphones and tablets under the Nokia brand, then their future is clearly associated with the Android operating system. The Nokia N1 tablet quickly gained popularity and showed both the correctness of this approach and the fact that it is too early to consign the beloved Nokia brand to history.
Returning directly to the deal, let us quote the press center of the American software giant, which published the following message:
“Microsoft Corporation announced that it has reached an agreement to sell its entry-level phone assets to FIH Mobile Ltd. (a subsidiary of Hon Hai/Foxconn Technology Group) and HMD Global, Oy for US$350 million. Also part of the deal is the acquisition by FIH Mobile Ltd. Microsoft Mobile Vietnam, the company's manufacturing division in Hanoi, Vietnam.
Upon closing of this transaction, approximately 4,500 employees will transfer or have the opportunity to join FIH Mobile Ltd. or HMD Global, Oy in accordance with the requirements of local legislation.
Microsoft will continue to develop Windows 10 Mobile and support Lumia phones such as the Lumia 650, Lumia 950 and Lumia 950XL, as well as phones from OEM partners such as Acer, Alcatel, HP, Trinity and VAIO.
As part of the transaction, Microsoft will transfer all assets associated with entry-level phones, including brand names, software and services, service network and other assets, including partner contacts and key supply contracts, in accordance with local legal requirements. The expected closing date for the transaction is the second half of 2016, subject to regulatory approvals and other closing conditions.”
This means that by the end of 2016, the mobile phone market will be replenished with a new, long-familiar player.
