How are Nokia phones now called. Nokia: ups and downs of a Finnish company. Nokia Global Contribution

Until recently, Nokia smartphones were among the market leaders. Currently, gadgets from other companies have supplanted them, but simple dialers from this brand remain popular. Who is the producer country of "Nokia" and why is this trend observed today?

How did it all start?

Nokia's history dates back to 1865, when mining engineer Fredrik Idestam founded a pulp mill in Tampere, southwestern Finland (part of the Russian Empire). In 1868, he built a second mill near the city of Nokia, which had the best hydropower resources. In 1871, with the help of his close friend and statesman Leo Mechelin, Idestam renamed and turned his company into a joint stock company, thereby creating Nokia Ab.

Towards the end of the 19th century, Mechelin was looking to expand its electricity business. In 1896 he became chairman of the company (he held this position from 1898 to 1914) and added power generation to the core business.

In the late 1910s, shortly after World War I, Nokia was approaching bankruptcy. As a result, it was bought out by Suomen Gummitehdas, which had a large rubber factory located nearby. This was an important event in the history of the corporation. Even today, you can hear the question of which country is the manufacturer of Nokia tires. In 1922, the same company acquired the Suomen Kaapelitehdas plant, which produced telephone, telegraph and electrical cables, as well as established such communications.

At that time, three companies - Nokia Ab, Suomen Gummitehdas, Suomen Kaapelitehdas - did not officially merge, since the law did not allow this, but the management continued to create a successful conglomerate. The country of origin of "Nokia" did not actually change, and in 1967 all three firms were officially merged into the new industrial conglomerate Nokia Corporation.

The new company was involved in many industries, producing at various times paper products, car and bicycle tires, shoes (including rubber boots), cables, televisions and other consumer electronics, personal computers, power generation machines, robotics, and more. Each division had its own director, who reported to the first president of Nokia Corporation, Bjorn Westerlund. He was also responsible for the creation of the company's first electronics department in 1960, starting the rapid development of the telecommunications industry.

How did events develop further?

Finland gradually became known as the country of manufacture of the Nokia phone. The electronics section of the cable department was founded in 1960 and the production of the first electronic devices began in 1962. The first product was a pulse analyzer intended for use in nuclear power plants. After 1967, this department was registered as a special division, where the production of telecommunication equipment began.

In the 1970s, Nokia became more active in the industry with the launch of the Nokia DX 200, a digital telephone switch. It became the basis for the functioning of network equipment. Its architecture allowed the development of various switching products in the future. In 1984, the development of data exchange for the Nordic Mobile Telephony network began.

In the 1970s, the company was split into government and commercial organizations. In 1987, the government sold its shares to Nokia, and in 1992 the company name was changed to Nokia Telecommunications. From that moment on, Finland went down in history as the country of manufacture of the Nokia phone.

Pre-cell systems

The technologies that predate modern cellular mobile telephony systems were various standards for pre-cellular mobile radiotelephony. Since the 1960s, Nokia has been producing commercial and some military mobile radio technologies.

In 1964 Nokia developed a VHF radio station at the same time as Salora Oy. In 1966 Nokia and Salora began developing the ARP (Automotive Mobile Radiotelephone System) standard and the first commercial public mobile phone network in Finland. This is how Nokia (the manufacturing country - Finland) became the pioneer of new generation communications.

Participation in NMT (1G)

In 1979, the merger of Nokia and Salora led to the creation of Mobira Oy, which began developing mobile phones for the 1G NMT (Nordic Mobile Telephony) network standard. This is how the world's first fully automatic cellular telephone system appeared in Finland, which went online in 1981. In 1982, Mobira introduced its first car phone, the NMT-450.

Nokia bought all the shares of Salora Oy in 1984 and changed the name of the telecommunications business to Nokia-Mobira Oy. Mobira Talkman, released in 1984, was one of the world's first mobile phones.

In 1987, Nokia introduced its first mobile phone, the Mobira Cityman 900, designed for the NMT-900 networks (which, compared to the NMT-450, offered a better signal but shorter range). This device weighed only 800 grams including the battery and was priced at 24,000 Finnish marks (approximately 7,300 euros in modern terms). Despite the high price tag, the first phones were almost snatched from the hands of sellers. The mobile phone was originally a VIP product and a status symbol. At that time, the question of which country of manufacture "Nokia" did not even arise. Everything was produced only in Finland.

Participation in GSM (2G)

Then Nokia was the key developer of the GSM (2G) system, which could transmit data as well as carry out voice traffic. NMT (Nordic Mobile Telephony) is the world's first mobile telephony standard for international roaming, which was introduced by the producer country of Nokia in 1987 as a new European standard in this area.

Nokia then transferred its first GSM network to the Finnish operator Radiolinja in 1989. The first commercial GSM call in the world was made on 1 July 1991 in Helsinki via a network supplied by Nokia, then Prime Minister of Finland Harri Holkeri.

In 1992, the first GSM phone Nokia 1011 was launched on the market. The number of this model refers to the release date - November 10th. The Nokia 1011 has not yet used the company's signature ringtone. Nokia's trademark melody was introduced as a ring tone in 1994 in the Nokia 2100.

High quality GSM voice calls, easy international roaming and support for services such as text messaging (SMS) have laid the foundation for a worldwide boom in mobile phone use. GSM began to dominate mobile telephony in the 1990s, and by mid-2008 there were about three billion subscribers, of which there were more than 700 mobile operators in 218 countries and territories.

Further development

The company released the Nokia 3310 in 2000. This phone became one of the most popular devices at the time. Only Finland was the country of manufacture of "Nokia-3310".

This record was soon broken by the Nokia 1100, released in 2003. In total, more than 200 million copies have been sold. This model is the best-selling mobile phone in the world in the entire history of such devices. The introduction of this phone has boosted the company's popularity in emerging markets.

Nokia developers were among the first to recognize the possibility of combining a game console and a mobile phone with the N-Gage. It was a gamer's phone that cost twice the standard device.

The device ran on Series 40, a platform used primarily for Java applications. At the time, it was the world's most popular mobile phone software. Nokia then acquired Smarterphone, a company that makes the Smarterphone OS for low-cost phones, and merged that operating system with the Series 40 to create the Asha platform.

The Asha 501 was the first phone to run the new OS. Series 40 devices were discontinued at the end of 2014.

Symbian OS

Symbian was Nokia's main operating system for smartphones until 2011. Popular devices based on this platform include the following:

• 7650 - the first smartphone on the S60;
• Nokia N-Gage - the first gaming-focused smartphone;
• 6600 - the first Symbian smartphone with an original design (over a million units sold);
• 7610 - the first device with a megapixel camera;
• The N90 is the first camera-oriented mobile phone;
• N95 is a popular slider;
• N82 with xenon flash;
• E71, offering a full qwerty keyboard and premium build;
• 5800 XpressMusic - the first full-featured smartphone;
• N97 - phone with full contact screen and side QWERTY keyboard;
• The X6 is the first gadget with a capacitive touchscreen;
• The N8 is a device with a newer 12 megapixel camera and Symbian ^ 3.

Also released was the Nokia 808 PureView, which featured a record 41 megapixel camera.

Linux devices

The first Linux devices from Nokia were the Nokia and N900 internet tablets, which ran on Debian-based Maemo. The Maemo project later teamed up with Intel Moblin to create MeeGo. The N9 smartphone was released before further device development changed in favor of Windows Phone.

The Nokia X family of devices running Android was Nokia's last standalone market launch on a Linux-based platform. Subsequently, Nokia 8 was released, the country of origin of which remained the same, but it was a joint project of several companies. Then phones with serial numbers 6, 5, 3 and so on appeared in this line.

Reorganizations

As you can see from the above, the manufacturing country of Nokia is Finland, from the first day of production. However, the company developed further, opening its branches around the world.

Thus, on May 5, 2000, Nokia opened its mobile phone factory in Hungary. In April 2003, problems arose related to the separation of equipment from the networks. This forced the corporation to resort to various optimization techniques, including layoffs and organizational restructuring. Such measures have significantly shaken Nokia's reputation in Finland.

In March 2007, a new manufacturing country for Nokia appeared - the company signed a memorandum with the Cluj County Council in Romania to open a plant near the city of Giucu. The relocation of production from Germany to a low-wage country caused a lot of resonance. Around the same time, Nokia moved some of its headquarters to the United States. In 2008, the company entered the mobile phone market in Japan.

In February 2012, the company announced 4,000 layoffs due to the relocation of production from Europe and Mexico to Asia. This is how additional countries-producers of Nokia smartphones appeared.

Loss of smartphone market share

Apple's iPhone, originally released in 2007, initially felt intense competition from popular Nokia smartphones, especially the N95. Symbian OS held a dominant (62.5%) market share.

However, with the release of the iPhone 3G in 2008, Apple's market share doubled by the end of the year, and the iPhone OS (now known as iOS) overtook Windows Mobile. Despite the fact that Nokia retained 40.8% of the market, the popularity of devices has noticeably decreased.

The N96, released in late 2008, proved to be much less successful, and the 5800 XpressMusic was considered the main competitor to the iPhone 3G. However, the success of the business-oriented Nokia E71 was not enough to stem the decline in market share. On June 24, 2008 Nokia bought the Symbian operating system, and a year later opened the source code.

In early 2009, Nokia launched the N97, a touchscreen device with a landscape QWERTY keyboard focused on social media. It was a commercial success despite mixed reviews. The main competitor to the N97 was the iPhone 3GS. Several devices were also released in 2009 and received a positive response (including the Nokia E52). However, Symbian's market share declined from 52.4% in the fourth quarter of 2008 to 46.1% in 2009. So, the RIM platform (later Blackberry) increased its market share during this period from 16.6% to 19.9%, and Apple - from 8.2% to 14.4%. The Android niche grew at the same time to 3.9%.

Difficult period until 2011

Competitive pressure on Nokia increased dramatically in 2010 as Android and iOS continued to evolve. Other Symbian device makers, including Samsung Electronics and Sony Ericsson, began making Android-based gadgets, and by mid-2010, Nokia was the only OEM outside of Japan. The company replaced the S60 with Symbian ^ 3, but it still didn't gain popularity.

By the fourth quarter of 2010, Symbian's market share fell to 32%, while the Android niche grew to 30%. Despite these losses, manufacturing remained profitable, and smartphone sales increased every quarter throughout 2010. Many developing countries in Asia remained the producing countries of Nokia.

In February 2010, Nokia and Intel announced MeeGo, merging their Linux-based Maemo and Moblin projects. The joint activity was aimed at creating a single mobile operating system for a wide range of devices, including tablets and smartphones. Specifically, Nokia planned to use MeeGo as the successor to Symbian on its future phones. However, only the Nokia N9 was released.

Microsoft partnership

In February 2011, representatives from Nokia and Microsoft jointly announced a major business partnership between the two companies. Its essence boiled down to using Windows Phone as the main platform for Nokia smartphones, replacing Symbian and MeeGo. The collaboration also included the use of Bing as a search engine on Nokia devices, as well as the integration of Nokia Maps into Microsoft's own mapping services.

The company announced that there will be only one MeeGo-powered device in 2011. On October 26, 2011, Nokia unveiled its first Windows Phone 7 devices, the Lumia 710 and Lumia 800 line. Following this announcement, the company's share price fell by about 14%. Sales of Nokia smartphones, which had previously increased, collapsed.

From the beginning of 2011 to 2013, Nokia's rating in device sales fell from first to tenth place. In this regard, the corporation reported a loss of 368 million euros in the second quarter of 2011, while in the same period in 2010 it made a profit of 227 million.

In September 2011, Nokia announced that it would cut another 3,500 jobs worldwide, including the closure of its factory in Romania.

Since Nokia was the largest manufacturer of mobile phones and smartphones in the world, it was assumed that the use of Windows Phone would help regain its former influence. However, the company was unable to compete with the rapidly growing Apple. In 2012, there were a number of layoffs and layoffs, and the number of producing countries for Nokia has become much smaller. In addition, the company closed production and research sites in Finland, Germany and Canada due to ongoing losses, and the share price fell to its lowest level since 1996.

Further collaboration

Nokia's CEO acknowledged that the company's failure to anticipate rapid changes in the mobile phone industry has become one of the main causes of the problems. In May 2013, Nokia released the Asha platform for low-cost smartphones. In the same month, the company announced its partnership with the world's largest cellular operator China Mobile, resulting in the Lumia 920 and Lumia 920T, an exclusive Chinese variant.

Microsoft subsequently acquired the Asha, X and Lumia brands, but only obtained a limited license for the Nokia brand (until December 2015). Subsequently, smartphones of this line came out under the Microsoft brand. So, the USA became the country of origin of "Nokia Lumiya".

On November 17, 2014, Nokia representatives made a statement that the company plans to re-enter the consumer electronics business by licensing its own hardware projects and technologies to third-party manufacturers. The next day, Nokia unveiled Foxconn's Android-powered tablet N1 as its first product after Microsoft's sale.

On April 14, 2015, the corporation confirmed that it is in talks with the French company Alcatel-Lucent regarding a possible merger. The next day, Nokia officially announced that it had agreed to buy Alcatel-Lucent for 15.6 billion euros. The acquisition aimed to create a stronger competitor for Ericsson and Huawei, which the combined companies surpassed in terms of total revenues in 2014.

In support of the initiative, Nokia CEO said the merger would provide more opportunities for the upcoming 5G development. The merger with Alcatel was formalized on January 14, 2016.

New Finnish models before Nokia 3

The country of origin of devices of this brand may be located in Asia at the present time. However, in the course of numerous reorganizations, production returned to Finland.

On May 18, 2016, it was reported that Microsoft had sold the Nokia branded division of FIH Mobile to Foxconn and the new company HMD in Finland. They are supposed to work together to create Nokia devices. Nokia will provide the brand and patent licensing to HMD and will take a seat on the company's board of directors.

In January 2017, the Nokia 6 was released - the first jointly developed Android smartphone. The country of manufacture of "Nokia 6" was Finland. Soon there were more phones labeled 5, 3 and 6 art. The production of these newest models is based there, and the country of origin of the Nokia 5 is obvious.

05/18/2016, Wed, 15:11, Moscow time, Text: Sergey Popsulin 9814

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.

Telephone business sale

Microsoft announced that it has reached an agreement to sell its mobile phone business from Nokia to FIH Mobile (a subsidiary of Hon Hai Technology Group) and HMD Global Oy for $ 350 million. Part of the deal is 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 deal, Microsoft will transfer all assets related to entry-level mobile phones, including brand names, software and services, service network and other assets, including partner contacts and key supply contracts,” Microsoft said, stressing that we are talking only about simple mobile phones, not smartphones.

After the closing of the deal, about 4.5 thousand employees will transfer or get 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 added to the corporations.

Nokia mobiles will soon reappear on the global market

The transaction is expected to close in the second half of 2016, subject to regulatory approval and other closing conditions.

Return of Nokia

Today, May 18, 2016, in parallel with Microsoft's announcement of the sale of its telephone business, Nokia announced 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, within three years, HMD Global Oy undertakes to spend $ 500 million to promote the Nokia brand in the mobile phone and tablet markets.

Nokia's press service did not say that HMD Global Oy will produce smartphones under the Nokia brand. It was only about mobile phones (mobile phones) and tablets (tablets). The word “smartphones” also appeared in the press service. In particular, it was said that HMD Global Oy is also going to produce smartphones, but it was not noted that these smartphones will be sold under the Nokia brand.

HMD Global Oy is a recently established privately held company in Helsinki. It is run by people from Nokia. General Director of the company - Arto Nambela (Arto Nummela), one of the former Nokia executives who is currently the head of the Asia division of Microsoft Mobile Devices. President of HMD Global Oy - Florian Sheikhe (Florian Seiche), currently Senior Vice President Sales and Marketing for Microsoft Mobile Europe. Previously, 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 (share not specified). The second part will be hosted by 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 ordered by many world brands, including Apple, Sony, Google, Microsoft, etc. From its conveyors, including iPhone, iPad, Xbox, PlayStation and other popular goods.

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 imply that HMD will take over the sales, marketing and distribution of Nokia-branded mobile devices. In turn, FIH will provide manufacturing facilities, access to parts manufacturers and a design department.

Sale of Nokia mobile business

• Best Allergy Devices: Air Purifiers, Humidifiers, and Mobile Inhalers

Today we will talk about the cult transnational company Nokia. Nokia is one of the few companies that has changed the direction of its activities more than once and, having huge ups and downs just as much, continued its activities. Today the company is known to many thanks to the production of mobile phones, communicators, and the Nokia Here map service.

So, Nokia was founded in 1865 engineer Frederik Idestam and Leopold Mechelin in Finland.

Initially, the company was engaged in the production of wood pulp near the Nokia River. This time was known for rapid industrial growth, the demand for cellulose products grew day by day. The company began to actively develop and attract more and more workforce. As a result, the export of paper products was established far beyond the borders of Finland: Russia, England, France.

And already in 1871 Nokia Corporation was founded. The firm has confidently conquered the markets of Denmark, Germany, Russia, England, Poland and France. The co-founder of the company, Leopold Mechelin, proposed expanding to include the production of electricity and cables, but this idea did not like its founder Idestam, who left the company in 1896. Mechelin succeeded in promoting his idea to shareholders, and by 1902, one of the company's activities was the production of electricity. Also, by the middle of the 19th century, the vulcanization technology was mastered, which made it possible to use rubber in various spheres of life. In Finland, the Finnish Rubber Works (FRW) was involved in rubber production. When the management of this company made a decision to relocate production, they chose the land next to Nokia, because could buy electricity from them at low prices.

The rapid development of industry implied the need for the production of cables for power transmission, telegraph and telephone networks. As a result finnish Cable Works was founded in 1912.

In 1920, Nokia Corporation, Finnish Rubber Works, and Finnish Cable Works formed a coalition agreement to form the Nokia Group. It turned out that three different companies used the same name - Nokia. This “union” played into the hands of all three firms, since together they formed a virtually closed chain of power generation and transmission (by the 1920s, Nokia was manufacturing power plants). It was this kind of diversification that helped to overcome the difficult situation of the post-war crisis, which roamed the world.

The company is engaged in various production, creating at some time paper products, automobile and bicycle tires, shoes, various cables, televisions and other household appliances, personal computers, electrical generators, robotics, capacitors, military communications and equipment (like the encrypted text communicator Sanomalaite M / 90 and M61 gas mask for the Finnish army), plastics, aluminum and chemicals.

In 1966 it began and in 1967 three enterprises were finally formed - Nokia, FRW and FRC. Oy Nokia Ab was an industrial, worked in four main areas: the timber industry, the production of rubber, cables and electronics. The old businesses, especially the cable business, continued to drive Nokia's profitability. Some Finnish observers believe the control system was taken from a cable factory; but brought the rubber industry. And the electronics division helped revive Nokia's competitiveness in the company's next phase.

Together with Salora, Nokia begins work on high-frequency radio technology. As a result, the ARP communication standard was singled out. In the mid-1970s, one of the first Nokia telecommunications products was released, the DX200 switch for automatic telephone exchanges.

In 1984, after the buyout of part of the shares of the joint company Mobira, Nokia releases one of the first portable phones - Mobira Talkman. The device consisted of two parts: a transmitter and a talking tube, and its weight was almost 5 kilograms.

And in 1987, thanks to technical progress, the company presents Nokia Cityman, a mobile phone with a single block of hardware hardware. By the way, the weight dropped to 750 grams)))

In 1992, the company released the world's first GSM phone - Nokia 1011.

In the same year, the famous Connecting People slogan was first used.

At the moment Nokia is the largest company in Finland in terms of capitalization - $ 30 billion. The company is the largest employer in Finland, with a total staff of about 100 thousand people. Since September 2010, Stephen Elop has held the position of CEO, under whom the transition of smartphones to Windows Phone and the further sale of the mobile division took place. And the market share of smartphones fell from 29% in 2010 to 3% in 2012. He also cut the staff by 20,000 people and received more than $ 25 million after approving a deal with Microsoft and later borrowed from this company.

It is worth noting that the decline in popularity was outlined even before Elop took over as CEO.

It turns out that his actions only worsened the already poor state of the company, because. Samsung, LG and Apple began to enter the market.

As for the financial side, the company reported to the public for its own activities in the fourth quarter of last year and for 2013 as a whole. As expected, the numbers are pretty depressing. So, operating in the fourth quarter fell by 17% and amounted to € 274 million, and revenue - by 21% (€ 3.476 billion). At the same time, it amounted to € 12.709 million, which is also 17% lower than in 2012. As we recall, the mobile unit was sold and is referred to as “operations”. It is reported that sales of Lumia over a three-month period decreased from 8.8 million units to 8.2 million, and in total since its inception (2011) Nokia has sold about 44 million devices on Windows Phone (which is approximately as much as Apple sold in that the same quarter or total figure of the Samsung Galaxy S4 since March 2013).

However, the other three whales that Nokia is holding on to continue to be profitable. In particular, Nokia Solutions and Networks reports revenues of € 3.105 billion (€ 2.592 billion in the third quarter) and operating income of € 243 million (€ 166 million). The HERE mapping service brought finans 20% higher revenue than in the third quarter, reaching € 254 with an operating profit of € 18 million. Advanced Technologies (research division) earned € 310 million in a year, which is slightly lower than a year earlier , but Nokia was able to obtain a strategic advantage by prolonging its cooperation with Samsung on the use of "Finnish" patents, the royalties for which began on January 1, 2014. Well, Nokia has drawn a line under its phone business. In a year, the new financial results will tell how justified such a decision by the board will become, which caused a huge public outcry in Finland and abroad.

And in November 2014, the Nokia N1 tablet was announced. It should be noted that the company has licensed the brand to the Chinese company Foxconn. Those. from Nokia has only a brand and a proprietary Z Launcher, built on the Android 5 platform. The tablet turned out to be successful, of course, the design is rather suspiciously similar to the iPad Mini, but this is where all the similarities end. The tablet got a gorgeous 2048x1536 display, a 64-bit Intel Atom processor and a starting price tag of $ 250, which is the best price / quality ratio in this segment. The release of the Tablet is scheduled for 2015.

Nokia is also conducting research in the study of graphene (allotropic modification of carbon). The material itself is 300 times stronger than steel, it is almost transparent, has a tensile margin and much more. Nokia has received $ 1.35 billion from the European Union (UE) to research and develop this heavy-duty material over the next ten years. And there are already results. Nokia Battery 300 is a carbon battery that generates protons upon contact with water and recharges itself. 30% humidity is enough to charge the battery.

We can also mention the advances in the development of flexible (rather than curved) displays that use mechanical deformation for various functions. So far, these are raw prototypes, but there is no doubt that they will find their application in the near future.

Finally, I would like to say that given that Nokia changed its focus every time, depending on the wishes of the market (and did it quite successfully), I would not be surprised at the company's success in the field of graphene and other mobile solutions.

Thank you for attention))

Keep up to date with all the important events of United Traders - subscribe to our

In the early 2000s, the Finnish company Nokia conquered the Russian market with the 3310. There were also more expensive editions, like the 8890 slider, but the simple interface of the most popular model and the indestructible body have forever left in history this very handset with a monochrome display. In 2017, the brand, re-launched by Microsoft and HMD Global Oy, re-released the iconic model with a camera. However, this is far from the only achievement of Nokia in recent years. We will tell you how the multimillion-dollar company survived the collapse and was able to return to service.

Nokia Paper

The brand began in 1865, when engineer Fredrik Idestam opened a paper mill in Finland. After about three decades, the company ventured into power generation. The name was taken from the location of their second plant on the Nokianwirth River. At that time, the three industries decided to unite for one common cause. A Finnish rubber factory, a cable factory and a paper mill started working together, but it wasn't until the 1960s that they became one Nokia corporation.

The company mainly focused on four markets: paper, electronics, rubber and cable. They developed things like toilet paper, bicycle and car tires, rubber shoes, televisions, communication cables, robotics, PCs, and military hardware. In 1979 Nokia entered into a joint venture with the leading Scandinavian color TV manufacturer Salora to create the radiotelephone company Mobira Oy. Several years later, they launched the world's first international cellular system, called Nordic Mobile Telephone. She linked Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland. It was at that time that the first Mobira Senator car phone appeared, which weighed about 10 kg.

Nokia mobile phones

In the 1990s, the brand became a leader in the production of phones and decided to move only in this direction. In 1991, the first GSM call in the world was made by the then Prime Minister of Finland, Harri Holkeri. Unsurprisingly, he used Nokia equipment. The following year, the first Russian mobile phone Nokia 1011 was launched. A couple of years later, the company launched its 2100 series of phones. This is the device where the melody was presented. While Nokia planned to sell 400,000 units, the series proved to be a bestseller with 20 million phones sold worldwide.

It was followed by sliders, communicators and the world leader of the 90s - the 6100 model, which was already bringing us closer to the 3310. The new millennium was grandiose for Nokia, they released an insane amount of really interesting phones with different configurations and displays. From the cheapest and simplest 1100 to luxury phones like the 7280 "lipstick".

The evolution of Nokia phones

1 of 4

With the release of the first generation iPhone in 2007 and the growing popularity of touchscreen phones, Nokia launched its first smartphone in this segment in 2008. Called the 5800 Xpress Music, the Symbian v9 .4 (S60 5th Edition) device was quite successful but failed to compete with Apple. Around that time, the fall of the push-button empire had already begun.

Nokia Call

Long before there was a recognizable melody for iPhones and even Nokia, Spanish composer Francisco Tarrega wrote a piece for the lead guitar Gran Vals. This happened back in 1902, and in 1993 the vice-president of the Finnish company chose an excerpt from there and called it Nokia Tune. It was the first cell phone ringtone to be heard from everywhere. And in 2002, with the advent of polyphony, the melody changed. Then there was the piano and guitar version.

The Nokia N9 in 2011 introduced the new Nokia Tune, based on bells and chimes, which was present on early Lumia devices. A shorter version was introduced in 2013 on basic phones. The higher variant was available in 2013 on Lumia on Windows Phone 8 and has been used since 2017 on Nokia HMD Global Android phones.

The revival of Nokia

The collapse of the company began in the mid-2000s. Then the company had to recall 46 million defective batteries. They were manufactured between 2005 and the end of 2006 and appeared in many Nokia phones. This meant that the recall affected a large number of devices around the world. Three years later, without getting up, the company laid off most of its employees. Desperate to emerge from the ongoing crisis and the inability to compete in the market, Nokia announced a strategic partnership with Microsoft to make the latest Windows Phone its main mobile OS. The first fruit of the partnership between Nokia and Microsoft was the Lumia 800 and Lumia 710 smartphones, which were announced in late 2011.

By that time, the brand had already collaborated with the German optics manufacturer Carl Zeiss. Their work was not created on a permanent basis. The first joint device with a quality camera was Nokia N90 back in 2005. The Lumia series also has these optics.

Carl Zeiss collaborates with electronics brands quite often. Among the most famous, besides Nokia, are also Sony. As for the glasses, where the Germans also excelled, I would like to mention the clothing brand Han Kjobenhavn. They use quality optics for their sunglasses collections.

Gadget manufacturers

Becoming Nokia is a truly incredible business story. They managed to become one of the leading manufacturers of telecommunications equipment, as well as one of the most profitable brands specializing in the production of mobile devices. However, the company did not always do this. How did it all begin?

The predecessors of the modern company were Nokia Aktiebolag, as well as two factories for the production of cables and rubber. Their story began when a Finnish mining engineer installed wood mills in 1865 on the banks of the Tammerkoski River in the city of Tampere in southwestern Finland (then part of the Russian Empire).

The founder of the company, Knut Frederik Idestam, was born in 1838 in Helsinki. He received his Master's Degree in Mining and completed related training. Following in his father's footsteps, Frederick initially planned to pursue a career as a civil servant.

In the 60s of the 9th century, Idestam was engaged in research of basic metals in Saxony with the funds of the government scholarship of the Finnish Senate. At the same time, he received the position of mining engineer in Finland. However, by the summer of 1864, Frederick's career plans had changed: on his way back from Saxony through the Harz mountains, he visited a defibrer mill.

It was a truly new invention, a factory that was engaged in the production of raw materials for the production of paper from wood. The technology and equipment were developed by Heinrich Walter. Idestam found work already at the stage of industrial production.

Like many others, he has witnessed the ever-growing demand for paper in the industrialized world of Europe and North America. However, the production did not have the opportunity to develop due to the lack of raw materials, and there were no ways to increase supplies. Idestam believed that Walter's solution to the raw material problem was correct. He also understood the importance of this innovation for Finland.

The vast Finnish forests could provide an unlimited supply of raw materials, and there were also waterfalls and rapids that could provide the mills with the necessary power.

As soon as Frederic Idestam returned home, he ordered the machines designed by Walter from Germany, and received permission to operate them from the Senate in the spring of 1865 - that is, the year that is considered the moment when Nokia was founded. The mill began production near the Tammerkoski lower rapids in Tampere in early 1866.

I must say that Idestam was not the first in his area in Finland at that time. The pharmacist Ahates Tuneberg also founded a defibrer mill near Vyborg in 1860 - apparently independently of Walter. However, the Thuneberg mill was not as good as that of Idestam, and the small business was soon closed.

Unlike Achates, Frederic not only achieved success, but also attracted competitors. Like Voltaire in Germany, Idestam was able to generate vigorous sales of his products. Pulp was cheaper than cellulose rags, and consumers (as well as manufacturers) found it a great alternative.

In the winter of 1866, Tampereen Sanomat became the first Finnish newspaper to be printed on wood-based paper. Another Helsinki publication soon followed suit. Shortly thereafter, Idestam was awarded a bronze medal at the Paris Exhibition.

This was a decisive breakthrough. By the way, at the same exhibition Walter became the deserved owner of the gold medal. Perhaps it was then that the world realized the importance of Walter's equipment and the technology he proposed.

The second plant was built by Idestam in 1868. Several factories were also established in the early 70s. Despite the fact that Finland lagged behind Norway and Sweden in the sawmill industry for almost twenty years, the wood-pulp industry in all three Nordic countries began to develop at about the same time and at the same pace.

From the first half of the 1970s to the outbreak of the First World War, the share of the chemical forestry industry in Finland's total exports increased from zero to 20%, while the value of total Finnish exports increased tenfold.

In 1871 Idestam turned his firm into a joint venture. Nokia Ltd. was founded by him together with his close friend Leo Mechelin, after which Idestam started building a new plant. Frederick owned more than half of the shares in the firm. The development of the company was going well.

Idestam was a cautious business manager, and his financial planning later helped him through difficult times. Unlike many other pioneers of Finnish industry who overcame the crisis, in the early 80s of the 9th century he was able to build three paper machines, as well as the first sulfite-pulp mills in Finland.

By the end of the 1980s, Nokia was processing all wood and chemical pulps into paper.

Leopold Heinrich Mechelin was a Finnish professor, statesman, senator and liberal reformer. A leading defender of the autonomy of the Grand Duchy of Finland, as well as the rights of women and minorities, Mechelin made Finland the first nation in the world to have a universal vote and the right to be elected.

His term of office is also associated with the emergence of freedom of speech, press and assembly. In the early 1980s, he founded the Liberal Party of Finland and wrote its program, and was one of the founders of Union Bank (now part of Nordea Bank). In 1871 he founded the Nokia company together with Idestam.

Mechelin is also remembered as the first chairman of the Helsinki City Council, a respected international expert in political science and a member of the peace movement. In 1876 he was awarded the title by Alexander II.

Leo Mechelin graduated from the University of Helsinki with Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Philosophy, as well as a Bachelor's degree in Law, and a license and doctorate several years later.

As a professor of political science, he argued that the kings were bound by old constitutional laws from the time of Swedish rule, and confirmed that Finland was a separate constitutional state that the king could only rule by law, while in Russia he had absolute power.

During periods of oppression, the tsar tried to impose anti-constitutional laws, which Mechelin opposed. As a result of the Russian and Finnish unrest, the tsar had to observe the November Manifesto, written by Mechelin.

This allowed the latter to form a government and make Finland a country with the first liberal democracy (for example, in New Zealand, women at that time also had the right to vote, but could not be elected, and in Australia only white people had such rights).

In 1907, the first general elections to a unicameral parliament (called "eduskunta" in Finnish) were held, and nineteen of its first two hundred members were women. After Mechelin's death and two revolutions in Russia, Finland was finally allowed to declare its independence, and Mechelin's young colleagues were able to complete the work they had begun.

Thus, Idestam's friend and roommate in his student years, Leopold, played a very important role in history.

Mechelin has also greatly helped the development of Nokia. His desire to expand the electricity business was initially opposed by the Idestas, but Mechelin managed to convince most of the shareholders of the need for this, and, becoming chairman of the company in 1898, he was able to implement his plans.

Another person who was the founder of Nokia is Finnish business leader Eduard Polon. He has also served as Chairman of the Board of Directors and CEO of the company. Edward is known as the man who led the development of the rubber industry in Finland (he was the largest shareholder in Suomen Gummitehdas).

Thanks to him, the Finnish wood and cable industry was formed. It was Polon who decided to use the name "Nokia" (this was the name of the Finnish city where his factories were opened) as a trademark for his products, so that it would differ from the products of his Russian competitors. Nokian Tires took over the Suomen Gummitehdas legacy.

Eduard Polon remained the owner, managing director and chairman of the group of companies that later formed Nokia for thirty years. In 1898, he founded the Finnish Rubber Works, which was engaged in the production of galoshes and other rubber products (which later became owned by the Nokia company).

Shortly after the First World War, the business was on the verge of bankruptcy. To continue supplying electricity from generators, Nokia Finnish Rubber Works acquired the business of an insolvent company.

In 1960, the first electronics department was created, laying the foundation for Nokia's telecommunications future. The industrial conglomerate Nokia Corporation was formed seven years later. The new company was involved in many industries.

At various times, it has produced paper products, shoes, communication cables, bicycle and car tires, televisions and other consumer electronics, personal computers, capacitors, plastics, military communications, chemicals, etc. Each division had its own director.

In the 1990s, the company enters the consumer electronics market and focuses exclusively on the emerging telecommunications segments. In 1988, the tire manufacturer Nokian Tires split off from the company, and two years later - Nokian Footwear, which produced rubber shoes.

In 1989, Nokia also sold the paper business; today Nokian Paperi is owned by SCA. In the years that followed, Nokia got rid of other businesses as well.

The company started working on networking equipment in the 70s of the XX century. In the late 90s, she also became a Check Point software partner.

Since 1960, the company has worked on commercial and some military radio communications technologies. Around this time, Nokia was developing VHF. In 1966, the firm began working on the ARP (Automotive Radiotelephone) standard with Salora.

It was introduced online already in the 71st year. In 1979 the two companies merged to form Mobira Oy, after which they began to develop mobile phones of the NMT standard (“Nordic mobile telephony” - first generation networks, the first fully automatic cellular system in Finland).

The first car phone was introduced in 1982. One of the first mobile devices in the world was the Mobira Talkman, which appeared two years later.

In 1987, Mikhail Gorbachev was photographed as he called his Minister of Communications in Moscow from Helsinki. He was on Nokia's Mobira Cityman.

Following this, the company became a leading developer of GSM - second generation mobile networks. Nokia launched its first such phone in 1992. At that time, the Nokia 1011 did not yet have the characteristic Nokia tune ringtone - it was introduced only in 94, when the 2100 series appeared.

High quality voice communications, easy international roaming and the emergence of new functions (such as short messages) predetermined the worldwide boom in the use of mobile devices. In the 90s, GSM was already the main communication system. Connections were growing at a rate of 15 per second, or 1.3 million per day.

In late 2000, the company released the Model 3310 (the successor to the 3210), a device that has become one of the most popular devices of all time. The firm was also one of the first to recognize the market value of a device that combined the qualities of a mobile phone and a game console. The N-Gage became such a device.

By 2009 the company re-entered the personal computer market, announcing the high-end Booklet 3G netbook.

Nokia also entered the smartphone market. Until 2011, Symbian remained the main platform for such devices. Linux was next.

The first devices that the company released under the control of this system were tablets. This was followed by the turn of the Android platform. In addition, the alliance with Microsoft predates the release of Windows Phone smartphones known as Lumia.

In 2012, the company experienced certain financial difficulties. This led to massive layoffs around the world, the closure of manufacturing and research centers, falling stock prices, and so on. By the end of 2013, 24.5 thousand employees had already been laid off.

In the same year Nokia tried to save the day by announcing new products, which became smartphones. Unfortunately, there was still no profit. Revenues fell more than 20%. The company faced its biggest challenges in the United States and China. Profit figures were extremely low.

In the same year, the company sold its mobile business to Microsoft. Steve Ballmer called the deal "a bold step into the future" for both firms. Be that as it may, it was inevitable. It was planned that the deal would be closed in early spring 2014, but due to a tax dispute this happened only at the end of April.

Mobile assets are now part of Microsoft Mobile, a new subsidiary of the corporation. The acquisition of the Asha and Lumia brands was also part of the deal (but only with a limited license for the Nokia brand).

In the summer of 2014, it was reported that Microsoft is now focusing exclusively on Windows Phone.

In late fall 2014, it was also revealed that Nokia plans to re-enter the consumer electronics business by licensing technology and hardware designs to third-party manufacturers.

It was stated that the brand "is falling in value, and therefore it is necessary that this trend be restored very quickly, in the near future." The head of the company noted that all the devices produced will be of high quality.