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 phone model 3410 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
We welcome you again, our dear readers, who are so partial to the latest in the diverse world of modern gadgets.
But today I want to talk not only about a new product, but about the revival of the world-famous Nokia brand, also about who bought the Nokia company and what new products we should expect under such a sonorous name.
"Good old" Nokia
Many of those present here remember these mobile phones very well. Even at the dawn of the mass globalization of mobile communications, we with trepidation picked up miniature and not so new Nokia mobile phones and listened to assurances from sellers about their exceptional practicality and quality, about the amazing “survivability” of the battery.
And what was the unique and extremely pleasant polyphony of those Nokias worth then - literally the “singing of a nightingale” among the sound of phones from other manufacturers.
But on this nostalgic note, it’s worth waking up from memories of the past and moving directly to the reason for which we have gathered here today.
Yes, Nokia is back with us, updated and modern, and as a sign of her past achievements in the world of mobile communications, she is worthy of an extensive consideration of her rich history with a happy... no, not an end, but a continuation.
From the history of the mobile brand
As you know, Nokia was originally a Finnish company, and until 2011 it had the largest share in the world of push-button mobile phones.
But the company began much earlier. In 1865, engineer Frederik Idestam founded a small paper mill in Tampere, in southwestern Finland. The company became known as Nokia Ab six years later, after the name of the town of Nokia on the river of the same name. They say that once upon a time there were places especially favored by black sables (nokia in Finnish).
Over the more than century-long history of its existence, the company has transformed its business, producing at the same time rubber products, cables, PCs, televisions, household appliances, communications and military equipment, shoes and much more. The company began actively producing electronics and entering this industry completely in the 80s of the last century.
Until recently, a strong company, Nokia began to lose its influence only a few years ago, since push-button phones began to become a thing of the past, and smartphones literally captured the market and all our attention.
Even such a large old familiar company, which for so long pleased us with the most reliable mobile phones, has become difficult to compete with ultra-modern touchscreen models with all sorts of bells and whistles. And just as the dinosaurs became extinct in their time, the good Nokia ran the risk of sinking into oblivion.
At some point, from 2011 to 2014, the company stubbornly climbed the mountain and its new offering was based on the Windows Phone operating system. But the situation was not saved - the new OS was not in great demand, because, despite the user-friendly interface and pleasant stylish appearance, it could not compare with different versions in terms of ease of “flight”.
In 2014, the heads of the company sold the mobile phone segment to Microsoft. But at the end of 2016, the brand received its revival, because part of the rights to it were purchased from the giant corporation of its “home” by the Finnish company HMD Global together with Nokia.
And this year we were presented with innovative approaches to the vision of modern push-button phones and smartphones on Android that caused great excitement: Nokia with serial numbers 3, 5, 6 and 8.
New Nokia 8
The flagship smartphone Nokia 8 was presented on August 16 in London, and it reached our consumers in September and received absolutely positive reviews on Yandex Market.
The body of the new smartphone is machined from cast aircraft aluminum. Literally “magical” in performance, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 chipset ensures perfectly fast system operation. And the functions of very fast battery charging and protection against overheating of the smartphone make it very convenient and durable.
Everything is good here: wonderful ZEISS optics, a 13 MP front camera, and Dual-Sight technology with two-way broadcasting from both cameras.
AliExpress today offers stylish Nokia in 8 different shades: indigo, copper and steel in glossy and matte finishes.
Future smartphones - what makes them special
Nokia 9 is literally awaited after the success of the previous flagship. HMD Global will soon offer us a cool, water-resistant smartphone with a fashionable frameless display and a pair of cameras, equipped with a powerful Snapdragon 835 processor.
Nokia 2 will be, according to the creators, the company’s most affordable smartphone for any wallet. It will combine the stylish simplicity of modernity and functionality: an excellent battery, a small screen, but two cameras, a Snapdragon 212 processor and 16GB memory, as well as the “fresh” Android 7.0 Nougat in the system.
Well then, dear friends. Now you know how the history of the incomparable brand of Nokia mobile phones developed and continued, who owns it now and what it is called.
And if you are always interested in news about new electronics products, then we are always happy to meet you in our groups on VK, Facebook, Twitter and channel on YouTube. Come in yourself and invite your friends. An interesting and useful pastime awaits you with us.
There was a site with you
Story Nokia- one of the most incredible business sagas of the 90s of the last century. As BusinessWeek magazine wrote, in the early 90s, the Finnish conglomerate was worried about problems very far from cellular communications: then the volume of sales to the Soviet Union, which was on the verge of collapse, began to decline sharply... of toilet paper. And by the end of the millennium, the same Finns, having refocused on the production of cell phones, surpassed both Ericsson and Motorola in their new market. Quite quickly, Nokia became one of the leading players in the global telecommunications market, as well as one of the richest European companies. But everything is in order...
The history of Nokia is usually dated back to 1865. On May 12, 1865, Finnish mining engineer Fredrik Idestam received permission to build a wood pulp factory near the Nokia River. This was the beginning of the future Nokia Corporation. It was during these years that the industry experienced rapid growth. Industrialization, the need for paper and cardboard for growing cities and offices grew every day. And now, on the site of the mill factory, a pulp and paper mill grew up. Over time, the Nokia plant attracted a large number of workers, so that soon a city of the same name - Nokia - was formed around it. The enterprise grew from a national scale; Nokia paper began to be supplied first to Russia, then to England, France, and even China. At the end of the 1860s, the demand for paper products in Finland many times exceeded domestic production, which led to increased imports of raw materials from Russia and Sweden. In February 1871, Nokia Corporation (Nokia Aktiebolag) was founded. The company confidently conquered the markets of Denmark, Germany, Russia, England, Poland and France. By the way, business people from St. Petersburg played an important role in Nokia’s entry into the international arena.
Meanwhile, in the United States, the “rubber fever” of the early 1830s ended as suddenly as it began. Many investors lost millions of dollars. But bankrupt Philadelphia equipment manufacturer Charles Goodyear continued to experiment with rubber. In February 1839, he discovered the phenomenon of vulcanization. At the same time, he created waterproof rubber, which made it possible to use this material in a wide variety of conditions. In 1898, Frank Seiberling founded the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company and bought its first plant. Ten years later, Goodyear became the world's largest rubber company.
In Finland, rubber goods appeared at the end of the 19th century. The first products were shoes and various items made of rubberized fabric. At first they were a luxury, but very quickly raincoats and galoshes gained popularity in cities and rural areas. Rubber products have become part of not only the consumer but also the business market. Due to industrialization, there was a demand for various equipment, which meant the need for all kinds of rubber products. In Finland, the main manufacturer of such products was Finnish Rubber Works (FRW). When FRW management decided to move its production from Helsinki to the countryside, it chose a site near Nokia. The opportunity to buy inexpensive electricity from Nokia became decisive - the river near which the plant was located not only served as a decoration for the landscape, but was also a source of cheap electricity.
In 1912, a company was opened in the center of Helsinki, which later received the name Finnish Cable Works. The increasing demand for electricity transmission, as well as the rapid development of telegraph and telephone networks, ensured the rapid growth of the company. Looking ahead, it should be noted that after the end of World War II, the company was practically a monopolist, owning the absolute majority of Finnish cable manufacturers. In 1920, these three firms: Nokia Corporation, Finnish Rubber Works and Finnish Cable Works, entered into a coalition to form the Nokia Group. Participation in this industrial conglomerate implied Nokia's opposition to social, political and economic events: both the Roaring Twenties and the Great depression, and the invasion of the Soviet Union, and subsequent wars, and the payment of reparations to Moscow.
Although Nokia lost its corporate autonomy, its name very soon became a common foundation for the three companies, and during these same years FRW began to use the name “Nokia” as its brand. True, soon the third of the companies, Finnish Cable Works (FCW), lured Nokia into a new sector for it - the construction of power plants. In the 1920s and 30s, Nokia was already a leader in all areas of its activities. It was diversification that helped the company survive economically difficult times almost painlessly: when some sector of the economy was in decline, Nokia survived at the expense of enterprises in other industries.
Nokia began operations in the Soviet Union in the 60s. In 1966, the merger of three companies - Nokia, FRW and FRC - began and was finally formalized in 1967. Oy Nokia Ab was an industrial conglomerate operating in four main areas: forestry, rubber, cables and electronics. Old businesses, especially cables, continued to drive Nokia's profitability. Some Finnish observers believe that the control system was taken from a cable factory; and the rubber industry brought in money. And the electronics department helped revive Nokia's competitiveness at a new stage in the company's development.
Back in the 60s, the president of Finnish Cable Works, Björn Vesterlund, established an electronics department that carried out research in the field of semiconductors. The main personnel of the department are employees of universities and colleges, with whom Westerlund has long maintained good relations. The head of the department, Kurt Wickstedt, who called himself “obsessed with numbers,” was well aware of all the prospects for the development of electronic communications and skillfully directed the efforts of developers in precisely these priority areas. The mood in the air at that time could be characterized by the words “everything is possible and everything needs to be tried.”
The first radiotelephone was developed in 1963, and a data modem was developed in 1965. However, most telephone exchanges at that time had electromechanical switching devices and no one even thought about the possible “digitalization” of their equipment. Despite such conservatism that reigned in this area at that time, Nokia still took on the development of a digital switch based on pulse code modulation (PCM). In 1969, it was the first to produce PCM transmission equipment that meets CCITT (International Consultative Committee on Telegraph and Telephone) standards. The transition to a digital telecommunications standard became one of the most important strategic decisions for the company, which was confirmed in the early 70s with the release of the DX 200 switch. Equipped with a high-level computer language and Intel microprocessors at that time, it turned out to be so successful that it remains to this day The ideas contained in it are the basis for the company's telecommunications infrastructure.
At the same time, new legislation allowed, following the example of Sweden, the installation of mobile phones in cars and their connection to a common network. Since Nokia's main strategy in the 1980s was rapid expansion in all directions, the new prospects pushed Nokia to take decisive action. And the result was not long in coming: in 1981, a cellular network was created that covered Sweden and Finland and was called Nordic Mobile Telephony (NMT). It later included other countries both in Europe and beyond. The system was based on Nokia technologies. The mobile phone industry began to develop rapidly. Introduced in 1981, NMT became the first widely used cellular standard
In 1987, when all mobile phones produced were quite heavy and had large dimensions, Nokia released one of the lightest and most transportable mobile phones. This allowed us to win a significant part of the market.
In connection with the gradual unification of European markets in the late 80s, there was a need to develop a unified digital standard for mobile communications, later called GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications).
In 1989, Nokia and two Finnish telecommunications operators formed an alliance to launch the first GSM network. To avoid losing ground to competition from Telecom Finland, which had a long-standing, state-backed long-distance telephone monopoly, analogue mobile service providers Helsinki Telephone Corporation and Tampere Telephone Company created Radiolinja. This company bought $50 million worth of infrastructure from Nokia, even though it did not have a license for the new network.
Jorma Ollila, invited to Nokia by Kari Kairamo, headed the company's mobile phone department in 1990. There was a lot of talk about the new project; everything raised doubts: from the fundamental need for the existence of the network to technological issues. Still, the Nokia team believed in digital communications and continued their work.
On July 1, 1991, the very first call over a commercial GSM network was made by the Prime Minister of Finland - on a Nokia phone. The success of the project impressed the company's board of directors, and a year later Ollila was appointed CEO of Nokia. Jorma Ollila still holds this position and the post of chairman today.
Since 1996, telecommunications have become Nokia's core business. It was not in vain that the Finns took risks. After all, when Nokia invested its resources in GSM, it was a moderately successful company from a small country, challenging an already established billion-dollar infrastructure and a widely accepted standard. Soon the company enters into agreements to provide GSM networks to 9 more European countries. By August 1997, Nokia supplied GSM systems to 59 operators in 31 countries.
It must be said that by this time Finland was experiencing a deep decline in production. And despite the fact that in the 80s Nokia became the third manufacturer of televisions in Europe, and the company’s satellite receivers and the division involved in the production of car tires became very popular, especially considering the consistently high quality of the entire range of products offered, Nokia had to take a risky choice. In May 1992, Jorma Ollila, who headed the company, decided to cut all other departments and concentrate scientific and production capabilities on telecommunications. Today, when Nokia is a world leader in mobile communications and telecommunications, we can appreciate the correctness of this decision.
Secrets of success.
It was when the company got serious about producing mobile phones and other telecommunications products that it entered international markets. As a result, in the late 90s Nokia became the market leader in digital communications technologies.
In a short time, thanks to its ability to sensitively respond to frequent market changes and instantly adopt the latest developments and technologies, the company has achieved global success. It is through a competent and thoughtful approach, as well as the right decisions - both in the field of technology and in the field of management and personnel policy - that Nokia has become a world-class mega-company. In just 6 years, this company has made a leap to world fame.
Jorma Ollila took over Nokia at a time when it needed a breath of fresh air. And the company soon began to rapidly increase its turnover. By 1997, Nokia was a manufacturer of mobile phones in almost all major digital standards: GSM 900, GSM 1800, GSM 1900, TDMA, CDMA and Japan Digital. Thanks to such extensive capabilities, the company was able to quickly strengthen its position in Europe and Asia.
Already in 1998, it announced a 70 percent increase in profits (210 billion euros), while its main competitors Ericsson and Motorola limited themselves to reports of a decrease in production rates. The demand for mobile phones continued to grow, and Nokia's market share grew along with it. In 1999, the company captured 27% of the mobile phone market, with Motorola, in second, lagging behind by as much as 10%. Today, Nokia is still the leader in the mobile phone market. What explains this rise? Let's try to understand the reasons for this success.
Story.
What distinguished it from ordinary Finnish companies was not only the desire for growth and innovation, but also the effective expansion of its scope of activities. In addition, Nokia distinguished itself by being the only one in its country to pursue a consistent policy of creating a complete chain of self-sufficiency: from production and development of new products to marketing, brand promotion, sales organization and the provision of related services.
Name.
First of all, Nokia's management decided that for successful promotion in the market it needed its own brand - the company was able to foresee that cell phones would soon become consumer products (before that, Nokia products were sold under the brands of mobile operators). She succeeded in solving the task in full - today, in the list of the most popular brands, the Nokia brand occupies eleventh place, between Marlboro (10th place) and Mercedes (12th).
Innovation.
One of the company's strategic goals has always been continuous renewal, which is manifested in skillful and constant segmentation, branding and design. Like Procter & Gamble, Nokia periodically launched new products in various categories to continuously dominate the market. Like Coca-Cola, Nokia gradually became a household name, but it did so much faster.
Technologies.
Nokia pays a lot of attention and invests heavily in technological developments. The main breakthrough, according to a number of experts, was an advanced and convenient menu system. It was she, as many believe, that gave impetus to expanding the functionality of the phone and gradually turning it not just into a communication device, but rather into an information device.
When many high-tech corporations in the US and Canada focused exclusively on computer information technology, European and Japanese companies became seriously involved in mobile telecommunications and wireless technologies. And Nokia was at the forefront of these “world transformers.” People want to communicate “anytime, anywhere,” and Nokia meets this demand. Even the Americans recognized that thanks to Nokia, the future of wireless communications belongs to Europe. Indicators such as the share of mobile phone ownership among the population and cellular coverage are much higher in Europe than in the United States. And that's not all: the lines between technologies are now blurring - they are merging into a single whole, and mobile telecommunications devices are reigning at the very center of the wireless information society of the new century.
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 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
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 every 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 his tenure, Ollila brought success to Nokia 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 form of 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 McLevore, "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 era. 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 themselves 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 understood where the future was heading and completely bought 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 "Burning Platform," 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 being discussed even by grandmothers at their 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 and Snowden portals 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.