Nokia is plotting a return to the consumer technology arena as it hires software experts and begins testing new products. This is in stark contrast to the Nokia of old, which was once the highest volume producer of mobile phones in the world.
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Now Nokia boss Rajeev Suri is planning a comeback.
Of course, Nokia is unable to re-enter the handset business until 2016 because of a non-compete deal with Microsoft, however, that doesn’t mean the company is preparing for a handset release.
The company has dipped its toe into the consumer market, with the Android N1 tablet, which went on sale in January in China. There has been a turnaround at its technologies division and the company has been advertising on LinkedIn for dozens of jobs in California, many in product development.
A May announcement by Nokia also mentioned plans to lay off about 70 people at the division, but was halved, according to a later report. 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.
When it buys Alcatel-Lucent it will also get its paws on Bell Labs – a U.S. research centre whose scientists have won eight Nobel prizes. “Instead, the new Nokia handsets will most likely be operating at the low-cost end of the market, mainly in emerging markets, such as Africa, Latin American, the Middle East and Asia”. It was once the world’s biggest maker of mobile phones. It will not fall back on the “traditional” methods, said the CEO, who took the helm last May and has turned it into a slimmed down, more profitable company.
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. Companies like ZTE have had limited success licensing their brand to American telcos, as those OEMs themselves have started to manufacture cheap and compelling smartphones. Since then it has focused on making telecoms network equipment.
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“They (Nokia) want to be innovative and seen as a company with long-term vision in the (tech) industry and having a foot in devices plays into this impression, even if it’s not bringing massive revenue at the outset”, Gartner analyst Sylvain Fabre is quoted as saying in a Toronto Sun article this week.
