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Nokia plotting its return to consumer tech market

However, the meteoric rise of Apple and Samsung coupled with a lack of inventiveness toward consumer taste led the company to sell its hardware business to Microsoft in 2013.

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According to Reuters, the Finnish manufacturer is hiring software experts and sales partners so it can hit the ground running in late 2016, when a no compete clause included in the terms of the sale of its handset division to Microsoft expires.

Nokia still has a huge brand asset, especially in emerging markets where smartphone penetration isn’t high, like Africa and the Middle East”, Gleeson said. Now, Nokia’s technology division is working on new consumer product designs with 600 or so employees in the department.

The we’ve got already dropped into its toe of the feet into the end user market; it must unveiled an Android ipad, the N1, that will continued deal in January in China and years ago presented a “virtual-reality video camera” overvallen…

Nokia had also recently taken to Android with the N1 tablet and Z launcher. “Nokia also has a lot of its own technologies and patents, which it can use to differentiate those handsets in those markets”.

This is stark contrast to its previous handset business which in its heyday manufactured more phones than any other company in the world and employed tens of thousands.

At the beginning of August, Nokia formally announced an agreement to sell its HERE mapping business to German automakers – including Audi, AG, BMW and Daimler AG – for $3.07 billion.

With advances in contract manufacturing and standardisation of software, components and features like touch-screens, it is also easier than ever for companies to outsource everything to produce lookalike phones. “Barriers to entry in the handset market are lower than ever and nearly anyone can enter the smartphone market”. Such “brand-licensing” agreements will be exchanged for royalties, but Nokia is unlikely to make tons of revenue initially.

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The company says its brand is recognised by four billion people. “But if there is something new and interesting to it, the old heritage may be helpful”.

The headquarters of the telecom equipment group Nokia is in Espoo Finland