|
Nokia Corporation is a Finnish multinational communications corporation. The company has its headquarters in Keilaniemi, Espoo, a city neighbouring Finland's capital Helsinki. Nokia has played a considerable role in the history of the mobile / cell phone, and has been responsible for some of the most iconic and successful handsets, for example, the Nokia 1100.
In 2011, Nokia had over 132,000 employees in 120 countries, sales in more than 150 countries, a global annual revenue of over 42 billion Euros, and an operating profit of 2 billion Euros (2010 figures). Nokia is (January 2012) the world's largest manufacturer of mobile phones, with its global device market share being 23% in the second quarter 2011. The company plays a very large role in the economy of Finland. It is by far the largest Finnish company, accounting for about a third of the market capitalization of the Helsinki Stock Exchange (OMX Helsinki) as of 2007. This is a unique situation for an industrialized country. Nokia's grip on the market has slipped recently though, with its share of the converged mobile device market falling from about 38% in 2010 to 31% in 2011.
Nokia produces mobile devices for every major market segment and protocol, including GSM, CDMA, and W-CDMA (UMTS). Through its Ovi platform, the company offers Internet services such as applications, music, games, maps, media and messaging. Nokia's joint venture with Siemens, Nokia Siemens Networks produces telecommunications network equipment, solutions and services. Nokia is also engaged in providing free digital map information and navigation services through its wholly owned subsidiary Navteq.
Nokia has sites for research and development, manufacture and sales in several countries; as of December 2010, Nokia had R&D presence in 16 countries and employed 35,870 people in research and development, representing approximately 27% of the group's total workforce.
The Nokia Research Center, which was founded in 1986, is Nokia's industrial research unit. It consists of about 500 researchers, engineers and scientists, and has sites in seven countries: Finland, Switzerland, China, Kenya, India, the United States and the United Kingdom. Besides its research centers, in 2001 Nokia founded (and owns) INdT - Nokia Institute of Technology, a R&D institute located in Brazil. Nokia operates a total of nine manufacturing facilities located at Salo, Finland; Manaus, Brazil; Cluj, Romania; Beijing and Dongguan, China; Komárom, Hungary; Chennai, India; Reynosa, Mexico; and Masan, South Korea. In November 2011, Nokia's factory in Cluj was seized by the Romanian government to prevent a sale of the assets, after Nokia had accumulated a tax liability of US$ 10 million. Nokia's industrial design department is headquartered in Soho in London, UK with significant satellite offices in Helsinki, Finland and Calabasas, California in the US.
In the Interbrand/BusinessWeek Best Global Brands list of 2011, the Nokia brand is valued at $25 billion, making it the 14th most valuable brand in the world. It is the 14th ranked brand corporation in Europe (as of 2011), the 8th most admirable Network and Other Communications Equipment company worldwide in Fortune's World's Most Admired Companies list of 2011 , and the world's 143th largest company as measured by revenue in Fortune Global 500 list of 2011. In July 2010, Nokia reported a drop in profits by 40%, which turned into an operating loss of EUR 487 million in the second quarter of 2011. In the global smartphone rivalry, Nokia held the 3rd place in the second quarter of 2011, trailing behind Samsung and Apple.
On 11 February 2011, Nokia announced a partnership with Microsoft where all future Nokia smartphones will be powered by the Windows Phone 7 OS. On 26 October 2011, Nokia unveiled its first WP7.5 powered handsets Lumia 710 and 800.
In October 2011, Nokia launched its first two Windows-based smartphones in an attempt to gain ground on Apple and Android-based competitors.
Nokia Reports Loss for Final Three Months of 2011
In January 2012, Nokia reported a loss for the final three months of 2011, as sales of mobile phones dropped. The company has not been as fast as its rivals to take advantage of the lucrative smartphones market.
The firm made an operating loss of 954m euros ($1.26bn: £800m). Net sales fell 21% on a year earlier to 10bn euros, with net sales of mobile phones down by a quarter.
February 2012 - Nokia Cuts Workforce by 4000
On February 8th 2012 Nokia announced that it would be laying off 4000 people at plants in Hungary, Mexico and Finland. The cuts are planned to be complete by the end of 2012. Nokia said that despite the heavy job losses, the plants would remain open and would refocus on customising phones. The actual assembly would move to South Korea and China.
April 2012 - Nokia Warns of Losses
On April 11 2012, shares in Nokia fell by 17% following an announcement by the mobile phone company saying it expected to make losses in the first half of 2012.
The Finnish company blamed lower sales, particularly in India, the Middle East, Africa and China, for the company's poor performance.
April 2012: Nokia Loses Mobile Phone Crown to Samsung
It was reported at the end of April 2012 that Nokia had lost its crown as the world's number one mobile phone manufacturer to Samsung Electronics. Nokia had held the number one spot since 1998, when it took over from Motorola.
May 2012: Nokia Accuses Apple of Siri Bias Over Smartphone
The debate over "what is the best smartphone ever?" took an unexpected twist after Apple's voice-activated assistant Siri appeared to favour the iPhone's rival.
Over the weekend, users of Siri were told the answer was Nokia's Lumia 900. But Siri now responds to the same question with a jovial: "Wait... there are other phones?". Nokia has accused Apple of "overriding the software" after the quirk was noticed.
Apple would not confirm that a change had been made.
You can read the full story here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-18071342.
June 2012: Nokia Announces More Job Losses
In June 2012, Nokia announced that it would cut a further 10,000 jobs as losses deepen. The job cuts would be spread around the globe. The company also announced that second quarter losses would be larger than it had previously thought.
The new cuts bring the total number of job losses since Stephen Elop took over as the CEO in September 2010 to over 40,000.
Since February 2011, Nokia's share price has fallen by more than 70%.
July 2012: Nokia's Woes Continue
In July 2012 Nokia announced that it had made losses of 1.41bn euros (£1.1bn) in the second quarter of that year as the mobile phone maker lost more market share to Samsung and Apple. Sales fell 19% to 7.54bn euros, with smartphone sales falling 34% to 1.54bn euros.
In response to the poor figures, Nokia chief executive Stephen Elop said the company was facing "greater than expected competitive challenges".
August 2012: Nokia Partners Groupon
Nokia has added Groupon offers to maps on its Lumia smartphones. By clicking on a green "G" icon, US users can now buy Groupon's discounted deal-of-the-day vouchers from their handsets and then locate the retailers participating in the offers by using Nokia's navigation system.
You can read the full story here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-19093769.
September 2012: Launch of Windows Phone 8 Devices
On Wednesday September 5th, Nokia and Microsoft co-hosted a press event in New York where they unveiled devices running the new Windows Phone 8 operating system. The success of Windows Phone 8 is critical for both companies.
You can read the full story here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-19479685.
You can find out more about Nokia and its history here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nokia.
|
