Have you noticed that last year we mentioned Nokia smartphones more than once? And not in a retrospective format, but in connection with the release of new cool smartphones. All because the brand received a second wind.
Personally, I'm glad to see the Finnish legend again, because he touched so many of us. But what do you remember about Nokia? Ringtone and “3310th”? This won’t work, it’s time to refresh your memory.
There were many facts in the history of Nokia that many do not know or have forgotten. Therefore, I have prepared the list below. It's time to remember 20 legendary facts related to the development of the Finnish brand.
1. The company was founded in the 19th century
The history begins in 1865, when mining engineer Frederic Idestam founded a small paper mill. In 1871 it was renamed Nokia Ab.
This is the Nokia logo! No kidding.
2. Nokia once made both slippers and toilet paper
In 1967, three companies merged: Finnish Rubber Works and Finnish Cable Works merged into Nokia Ab. Moreover, Nokia was the smallest, but this was beneficial according to the legislation of that time. The combined company had five main areas: the production of rubber products, cables, electronics, wood processing and electricity generation.
3. They produced personal computers
In the 1980s, Nokia Data's computer division produced the MikroMikko PC. This was a step towards the business PC market. The first MikroMikko 1 model was released on September 29, 1981, which was around the time of the IBM PC.
One of the MikroMikko series computer models.
4. The company's first phones were produced under the Mobira brand
In 1987, the company introduced the Mobira Cityman 900 phone, which could already be carried in the hand (weighing 760 grams). It was from this phone that Mikhail Gorbachev called the Minister of Communications in Moscow while in Finland. After this photo, many called the phone “Gorba”.
Check out the size of the Mobira phone.
5. The conversation timer is not like everyone else's
Talk timer on most Nokia phones turned on when making a call, and not when starting a conversation. Although smartphones with the S60 platform reported the time in the standard way - when the interlocutor picked up the handset.
6. Nokian tires are a thing of the past Nokia
In 1988, Nokian Renkaat, which had been its rubber division since 1967, was spun off from the company. Since then Nokian Renkaat has had no connection with Nokia.
7. Nokia were co-investors with MGTS
In 1989, a joint venture with MGTS, AMT, was created, which was engaged in mobile communications, paging and PBX maintenance in Moscow. Subsequently, Nokia's share was sold to MGTS.
8. The first paid call on a GSM phone was made from Helsinki
In 1991, the first paid call was made on a GSM cell phone. By the way, the network itself was built on equipment produced by Nokia. Finnish Prime Minister Harri Holkeri called from Helsinki.
The same call.
9. The famous slogan did not appear immediately
10. Nokia phones were so popular that they couldn’t be shipped in time.
The wild global popularity of the Finnish brand in the world led to a major logistics crisis in the mid-1990s. The devices simply did not have time to ship, delivery times were delayed - all this harmed the company’s reputation. The timely replacement of the entire logistics infrastructure saved us from failure.
11. Nokia ringtones made musicians popular
Standard ringtones included “The Village,” “Stones,” and “Close My Eyes.” These are songs by the American indie rock band Plain Jane Automobile, which became popular thanks to Nokia.
12. The melody in the famous ringtone was written in 1902
The universally recognizable ringtone is based on the old melody of the guitar work Gran Vals, written in 1902 by the Spanish musician Francisco Tárrega.
It appeared in 1994 in the Nokia 2100 series of phones, but received its name, “Nokia tune”, only in 1998, when it became associated specifically with phones of the Finnish brand.
13. The SMS sound was chosen for a reason
Standard sound of Nokia devices (sound SMS messages), which usually seems unremarkable to the user sound signal, in fact, a complete message. Only transmitted using Morse code. Thus, the signal is nothing more than the abbreviation Short Message Service, written using the above-mentioned cipher.
14. Melody Ascending is a code
The melody of “Ascending” also contains an encrypted message. This is the same company slogan: “Connecting people.”
15. Nokia has long been the largest phone manufacturer
By 1998, thanks to its focus on telecommunications and early investments in GSM, Nokia had become the largest mobile phone manufacturer in the world. The trend continued until 2007.
In the November 2007 issue of Forbes, Nokia is called the king of cell phones
16. Apple copied technology from Nokia
In 2009, Nokia won a lawsuit against Apple for violating 10 patents, the developments of which were used in iPhone first generations. Apple eventually paid compensation to Nokia and, judging by the recent patent settlement, is still making large royalties.
17. Nokia 3310 - a legend
Nokia 3310 became one of the most successful models in the history of Nokia. Over the past 17 years, more than 126 million copies have been sold.
18. Nokia devices have not been made in their homeland for a long time
All production capacities of the mobile sector are concentrated exclusively in Asian countries. The last mobile phone rolled off the Finnish production line in 2012. Nowadays, all AA brands manufacture their products using labor from Asia.
19. Microsoft bought Nokia for next to nothing
On September 3, 2013, Microsoft announced the purchase of Nokia's mobile phone division and all related patents. The purchase price was extremely low for a corporation of this level - Nokia's business was valued at $5 billion, and patents were worth another $2.18 billion.
20. The company has released tablets several times
The last attempt was in 2014, despite the sale of the mobile division. Then the company introduced the Nokia N1 tablet.
Nokia N1 tablet.
Which, according to most, has already “died” and no longer exists, announced that its Here Maps program for Android is leaving the “beta” status and can be freely used. In addition, the company announced a shell for Android called Z Launcher. This is what powers the company's first Android tablet. Thus, it can be argued that the Finns have seriously set their sights on this operating system, having stopped working on Windows Phone.
To understand what is happening to Nokia now, you need to remember what happened in 2013.
When Nokia announced that the Finnish company was transferring its mobile division to an American partner, the headlines in all the newspapers said something like this: “Microsoft bought Nokia.” Although in fact only that part of the company that was involved in the development and production of phones and smartphones was sold.
In addition, Microsoft received a license for a huge portfolio of patents and the right to produce “dialers” with that name for ten years, and smartphones under the Nokia brand for three years. However, the company has almost abandoned this practice.
This deal allowed Nokia to get rid of the ballast that was dragging the company down.
As a result, the Finns received $7.17 billion. Nokia itself does not have the right to release new smartphones under its own brand until November 2016, or to license this brand to other companies.
On the day the deal was completed, the company announced that Rajeev Suri became its new leader, who presented the company’s new strategy: from now on, the priority areas are mapping services, the creation of telecommunications equipment, and the development and licensing of new technologies.
And Nokia's cartography, oddly enough, is considered one of the best in the world.
In any case, it is the maps from the Finns that are used in the navigation systems of BMW, Mercedes, Audi, and other automobile brands, the names of which command at least respect. In addition, Here cards, which is the commercial name of Nokia cards, are used by many IT companies, including Microsoft, Yahoo! and Oracle.
Thus, cartography really was and is a serious business for Nokia.
Telecommunications equipment is also one of the key income items. Thus, in the fourth quarter of 2014, the operating profit of the Nokia Solutions and Networks division, which deals with this market, amounted to €470 million. Nokia equipment is used to one degree or another by all Russian operators, and part of the LTE frequencies in our country is deployed precisely thanks to NSN. This division also has joint ventures with Russian companies, for example, with NPF Mikran CJSC.
However, these divisions of the company have existed for a long time. A relatively new structure is Nokia Technology, which is responsible for creating new technologies. This structure is headed by Ramzi Haidamus, who the company wants and will provide licenses for its brand.
According to him, the name ban until the end of 2016 applies only to smartphones.
Otherwise, the company is free to “stick” its brand on any product. To confirm this, Nokia Technologies presented the Nokia N1 tablet, developed jointly with the Chinese Foxconn, one of its long-time partners. Android applications are also developed by this division.
Thus, after the sale of the mobile division, Nokia is functioning even better than before: financial reports show extremely positive dynamics.
The company begins to create new products for itself and at the same time continues to strengthen its existing positions in the market. The release of new devices is important, but far from the only way the company makes money from its brand. So to say that Nokia is no more is completely wrong. We can even expect that after the expiration of the ban on the use of the brand we will again see Nokia smartphones. But from another, revived company.
Today we will talk about the iconic transnational company Nokia. Nokia is one of the few companies that has repeatedly changed the direction of its activities and, having huge ups and equally huge downs, continued its activities. Today the company is known to many for the production of mobile phones, communicators, and the Nokia Here mapping 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 is known for rapid industrial growth, the need for cellulose products grew day by day. The company began to actively develop and attract more and more labor. 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 company confidently conquered the markets of Denmark, Germany, Russia, England, Poland and France. Company co-founder Leopold Mechelin proposed expanding to include electricity and cable production, but the idea did not please its founder Idest, who left the company in 1896. Mechelin managed to promote his idea to shareholders, and by 1902, one of the company's activities became the production of electricity. Also, by the mid-19th century, vulcanization technology was mastered, which made it possible to use rubber in a wide variety of areas of life. In Finland, rubber production was carried out by the company Finnish Rubber Works (FRW). When the management of this company decided to move production, they chose 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, forming the Nokia Group. It turned out that three different companies used one name - Nokia. This “union” played into the hands of all three companies, because together they formed an almost closed chain of energy production and transmission (by the 1920s, Nokia was engaged in the production of power plants). It was precisely this diversification that helped overcome the difficult situation of the post-war crisis that was spreading throughout the world.
The company is engaged in various production, creating at some point paper products, car and bicycle tires, shoes, various cables, televisions and other household appliances, personal computers, electrical generators, robotics, capacitors, military communications and equipment (like the Sanomalaite M/90 encrypted text communicator and the 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, working in four main areas: forestry, rubber, cables and electronic technology. 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 it. And the electronics department helped revive Nokia's competitiveness at a new stage in the company's development.
Together with Salora, Nokia begins work on high-frequency radio broadcasting technologies. As a result, the ARP communication standard was identified. In the mid-1970s, one of Nokia's first telecommunications products was released - the DX200 switch for automatic telephone exchanges.
In 1984, after buying out part of the shares of the joint company Mobira, Nokia released one of the first portable phones - Mobira Talkman. The device consisted of two parts: a transmitter and a speaking tube, and its weight was almost 5 kilograms.
And in 1987, thanks to technological progress, the company introduced Nokia Cityman, a mobile phone with a single block of hardware. By the way, the weight dropped to 750 grams)))
In 1992, the company released the world's first GSM telephone - Nokia 1011.
That same year, the famous slogan “Connecting People” was used for the first time.
On this moment Nokia is the largest company in Finland by capitalization - $30 billion. The company is the largest employer in Finland, with a total workforce of about 100 thousand people. Since September 2010, the post of CEO was occupied by Stephen Elop, 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 his staff by 20,000 people and received more than $25 million after approving the deal with Microsoft and later borrowing from the company.
It is worth noting that the decline in popularity began even before Elop took over as CEO.
It turns out that his actions only worsened the already poor condition of the company, because... Samsung, LG and Apple began to enter the market.
On 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 quite dismal. Thus, 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 division was sold and is listed as "operations." It is reported that Lumia sales over a three-month period decreased from 8.8 million units to 8.2 million, and in total since its introduction (2011), Nokia has sold about 44 million Windows Phone devices (which is approximately as much as Apple sold in that year). same quarter or total indicator Samsung Galaxy S4 since March 2013).
However, the other three “pillars” on which Nokia rests continue to generate profits. In particular, Nokia Solutions and Networks reports revenues of €3.105 billion (€2.592 billion in the third quarter) and operating profit of €243 million (€166 million). The HERE mapping service brought revenue to the Finns by 20% higher than in the third quarter, and reached €254 with an operating profit of €18 million. As for Advanced Technologies (research division) earned €310 million for the year, which is slightly lower than a year earlier , but Nokia managed to gain strategic advantages by prolonging cooperation with Samsung regarding the use of “Finnish” patents, royalties for which began on January 1, 2014. Well, Nokia has drawn a line under its telephone business. In a year, new financial results will tell how justified this decision of the board will be, which caused a huge public outcry in Finland and abroad.
And in November 2014, the Nokia N1 tablet was announced. It is worth noting that the company has licensed the use of the brand to the Chinese company Foxconn. Those. from Nokia there is only a brand and a proprietary Z Launcher, built on Android platform 5. The tablet turned out to be successful, of course, the design is rather suspiciously similar to iPad Mini, but that's where all the similarities end. Tablet received a gorgeous 2048×1536 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 (an allotropic modification of carbon). The material itself is 300 times stronger than steel, it is almost transparent, has a tensile reserve and much more. Nokia has received $1.35 billion from the European Union (UE) to research and develop this ultra-durable material over the next ten years. And there are already results. Nokia Battery 300 is a carbon battery that, when in contact with water, produces protons and recharges itself. 30% air humidity is enough for the battery to charge.
We can also mention advances in the development of flexible (rather than curved) displays that use mechanical deformation for various functions. For now these are crude 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 each 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 your attention))
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We all know that the famous Finnish mobile brand Nokia was purchased by the American giant Microsoft. For several years, Nokia produced smartphones in the operating room Windows system Phone, then Microsoft decided to become the owner of production facilities for its own OS and bought out the Finns. At a time when phone prices have remained at a stable level for several years, Nokia models are appearing less and less among flagships. It would seem that this is the end of the story of the legendary mobile phone manufacturer, but no. Leaked online interesting information from Chinese developers. There was a rumor that a team of specialists, once involved in the development of the Nokia N9, is currently working on a new mobile device. . What’s most interesting is that this device, again according to rumors, will work on the basis operating system Android.
Microsoft, of course, is the owner of the Nokia trademark, but this does not in the least prevent the Finns from developing and producing other models of mobile phones that are not based on Windows Phone. The only question that arises is what name the new models will have. The Nokia brand today cannot be used by anyone other than Microsoft. Will we see the promotion of a new name, which will cost quite a large amount of money for a successful result, or will the Finns somehow come to an agreement with the Americans? We can confidently say that in the near future we will learn a lot of interesting news. The Finns themselves strongly hint at this on their official Twitter with one of their latest messages, which says that those who want to know how the further history of Nokia will develop will find out everything on November 17. Not long to wait!
Meanwhile, new products under the brand continue to go on sale Nokia Lumia. This time these are models 830, 730 Dual Sim and 735 LTE. All of them were presented at Berlin IFA 2014. All three smartphones run on Windows Phone OS version 8.1. The 830th model has a large 5-inch display (1280*720 pixels) and a 10 MP main camera with proprietary Zeiss optics. The other two models are equipped with slightly smaller 4.7-inch screens with the same resolution. The 730 and 735 models emphasize excellent front cameras with a resolution of 5 MP. Those who like to take selfies or often use video calls will appreciate these devices. And also, as the names indicate, 730 Dual Sim supports work with two SIM cards, and 735 LTE allows you to work in networks fourth generation 4G. We are confident that each of these new products will find its consumer and will delight many users with its excellent work.
And one more thing I would like to talk about in this article is another interesting news from Microsoft. Once again information has leaked from the Chinese (and how do they find out everything so quickly?) that Microsoft will soon present us with its new smartphone from the Lumia line, but without the Nokia logo. The Chinese, generous with information, report that the device will be called Lumia RM-1090. The characteristics of the model still remain a secret behind seven locks, but we still managed to find out something: the smartphone will have a 5-inch display (960*540 pixels), the battery in the device has a capacity of 1900 mAh, the device does not support 4G, but Can work with two SIM cards. Based on these characteristics, it is obvious that this model will be sold in the low or middle price segment.
Thus, by combining the information indicated at the beginning of the article that Nokia has prepared some kind of surprise for us on November 17, with information about the imminent appearance of a new smartphone within the Lumia line, but without the Nokia logo, we can draw certain conclusions. Exactly what conclusions we will leave to the reader. Let us simply observe how events unfold around the most famous Finnish company.
The Nokia story is one of the most incredible business sagas of the 90s. As BusinessWeek magazine wrote, in the early 90s the Finnish conglomerate was worried about something very far from cellular communications problems: 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...
Came out of the forest 
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 was formed around it - Nokia
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.
1870
Coalition of Three
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 the 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 enterprises - 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.
Nokia and mobile communications
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.”
Nokia, 1960
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 transmitting 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 computer language for those times high level and Intel microprocessors, it turned out to be so successful that to this day the ideas embedded 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 shared network. Since in the 1980s Nokia's main strategy became 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 released Cell phones 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 single digital standard 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. In order not to lose ground in the competition with Telecom Finland, which had a long-standing, state-supported monopoly on long-distance telephone communication, analogue mobile phone 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. And yet the Nokia team believed in digital communication and continued her 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.
Number of mobile and landlines in Finland 1990-1998
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 TV manufacturer in Europe, and also gained great popularity satellite receivers companies and a branch engaged in the production of automobile tires, especially if we take into account the constant high quality the entire range of products offered, Nokia had to make 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 momentum. 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).
Slogan and logo adopted in 1993
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 the expansion functionality telephone and its gradual transformation 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 computers information technology, European and Japanese companies are seriously engaged 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 admitted that thanks to Nokia the future wireless communication 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 line between technologies is 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.
Design. The hallmark of Nokia phones is their first-class design.
Nokia's chief designer Frank Nuovo believes that what makes mobile phones more successful is not new features and intricate designs, but ease of use and beautiful design. appearance. In his opinion, in people's minds, a mobile phone is something like a watch or sunglasses. They are influenced not by the development of technology, but by fashion. Modern mobile phones of this brand are a milestone to which the company's competitors measure themselves. Nokia pays great attention to the design of phones. The company began experimenting with phone color ten years ago, when the first color phones came out in Europe and the USA. One of the first was the Nokia 252 Art Edition. This is largely due to Ollil and his team, who gave phones from Finland that quality that consumer psychologists call paramount in the image of Nokia mobile phones - the ability to give individuality to each of them and thereby stand out from the consumer crowd.
Frank Nuovo's team includes about 100 designers. The fashion model series 8000 is an example of first-class design. In this regard, Nokia's collaboration with the Kenzo fashion house is very indicative.
Many people believe that Nokia 8210 is the fruit of collaboration between Nokia designers and the Kenzo fashion house. In fact, this is not entirely true: the Nokia/Kenzo agreement was focused only on product promotion activities. For example, the 8210 was first presented at a Kenzo fashion show. Information from Nokia's press release: "In our business, Nokia 8210 opens up absolutely new class products, especially when it comes to new trends in fashion. It's not intended to displace existing categories, but rather to occupy a niche somewhere between a prestige fashion accessory and a regular phone.
The presentation of the new phone model at the Kenzo fashion show was a new step for us in introducing a new fashion-oriented product category. Kenzo is the ideal partner with a prestigious brand to enter the world of fashion.
The mobile telephony industry has already become the world's leading consumer electronics industry and therefore market segmentation is becoming more pronounced. Today, almost every person is a potential mobile phone user. Different users have different needs, different lifestyles and individual preferences. For this reason, production and marketing concepts are becoming increasingly focused on taking into account the customer's lifestyle and his ideas about fashion. It can be argued that the mobile phone is becoming an increasingly effective means of expressing individual style and taste. Kenzo, like Nokia, is a leader in style development.
Kenzo, like Nokia, is a world-famous brand with global distribution and has its own areas of market coverage. Nokia and Kenzo have similar views on joint activities: the desire for freedom, expressed individuality, youth style. We have the same sense of style in terms of color choices, materials and graphic design."
Corporate culture. It must be said that the formation of the well-known corporate culture of Nokia occurred even before the arrival of Jorma Ollila, the current leader, to the leadership. Many myths have been created about his predecessor, Kari Kairamo. This energetic man has served as Nokia's Chief Executive Officer (CEO) since 1977. By the way, his predecessor, Björn Westerlund, who was responsible for cable production, practically jeopardized Nokia's well-being by advocating a reduction in relations with the Soviet Union. Immediately after his arrival, Kari Kairamo built a market balance that was important for Nokia: now 50% of products were sent to the USSR, and another 50% to the West. This helped Nokia avoid disaster during the period of major changes in our country in the early 90s. But in 1988, Kari committed suicide and left the company in a very poor state. Kairamo was a charismatic leader whose behavior was sometimes cruel, insulting and scandalous. Today's generation of Nokia executives very often receives “advances” precisely because of the company's image and merits acquired under Kairamo. He also laid down the basic principles of Nokia’s corporate culture: teamwork, global scale of activity and constant improvement of professional level.
Jorma Ollila.
His successor, Jorma Ollila, became an equally significant figure. It was he who in 1991 “led” Nokia to a new digital standard for mobile communications - GSM. And a year later, when he became the head of the entire company, he promised to make Nokia the largest company focused on the mobile sector of the market. Now no one will argue that Nokia is a business miracle. The basis of everything, probably, was Nokia's somewhat unconventional operating scheme, which presupposes a combination of freedom of action for its individual structures and strict financial discipline. In other words, the company has certain corporate standards, but outside of them, departments are free to act at their own discretion. However, if any of them has not achieved certain financial indicators, and there are no prerequisites that the situation will change in the future, work in this area is curtailed.
Perhaps Ollila’s success in the international financial sector, which allowed him to place Nokia shares on the New York Stock Exchange, also played a role. The much-talked-about initial investment in Nokia was actually the result of a rise in its stock price. Over five years, Nokia shares grew by 2300%, and this was the result of special financial discipline. “If the income from the company’s main business product does not grow by 25% per year,” says Jorma, “then we cannot expect growth in the future - we need to change the product and the entire production strategy.”
Despite the openness of information about the company, Jorma Ollila himself remains a mystery to most researchers. He does not seek to show off his life. He talks only about technology, management and the prospects of his company. He loves to play tennis, but his style of play is more reminiscent of training to maintain physical fitness than a gambling competition. Even on the court, he is not inclined to any communication “outside the framework of the game.” Ollila is not only stingy with his words - he is also thrifty in relation to his employees.
The head of Nokia does not waste people: he is not inclined to fire employees, even when they make serious mistakes. That's why the company's 60,000 employees are loyal to their boss. “We know the field of mobile telecommunications better than anyone else,” they say. What is this, overconfidence? Perhaps. But Nokia is the leader, and we can all just agree with this statement. Jorma believes that his policy towards company employees is justified : “People who have walked together through adversity and defeat to victory must continue to work together.” According to the latest data, Jorma Ollila will remain in his post at least until 2006.
Present day
GSM technology gave impetus to the emergence of a new type of service - packet transmission of large volumes of data via wireless networks. In 1998, Nokia, Ericsson, Motorola and Psion (a British manufacturer of pocket PCs) formed the Symbian Alliance, a consortium designed to develop wireless technologies third generation. Symbian's strategic goal is to expand data transfer capabilities to mobile networks and integrate these networks with the Internet. The main goal, as Ollila says, “to put the Internet into every pocket” is to provide the Internet to every mobile device user.
Telephone factory in Salo, Finland
Nokia is now seeking to lead the development of third generation wireless services. Today the company is a leader in the production of mobile phones, as well as a leading supplier of mobile, landline and IP networks. Nokia operates in more than 140 countries and is traded on six of the world's largest stock exchanges.
Nokia's sales in the first quarter of 2003 amounted to 6.77 billion euros. Net profit amounted to 977 million euros. Today Nokia has more than 250 million users worldwide. According to analysts' forecasts, Nokia's share of the global market will increase to 40 percent in 2003.
Nokia in Helsinki, Finland
More than 50,000 qualified specialists create modern Nokia mobile phones at 18 company facilities in ten countries.
The peculiarity of Nokia is that when developing the next model, it focuses on a specific consumer, providing him with maximum ease of use. Today on the market there are models for people actively involved in sports, leading a business or social lifestyle in the categories: Basic (2xxx), Expression (3xxx), Active (5xxx), Classic (6xxx), Fashion (7xxx) and Premium (8xxx) . They differ in their respective design and set of functions.
Nokia has been in Russia since the spring of 1997, when a Russian local company was created - NOKIA CJSC with its head office in Moscow and a branch in St. Petersburg. The main divisions of Nokia became “core” structures: Nokia Telecommunications and Nokia Mobile Phones. In the fall of 1999, the Nokia Telecommunications division was renamed Nokia Networks.
Currently, two divisions are active on the Russian market: Nokia Mobile Phones, which is promoting Russian market models of Nokia mobile phones and support for dealers in Russia and the CIS, and Nokia Networks, which provides telecom operators with comprehensive solutions in the field of infrastructure of mobile and fixed communication networks, personal radio communications and advanced IP technologies.
By 2003, Nokia had opened three branded communication stores in Moscow, three in St. Petersburg and one in Chelyabinsk.
The Russian branch of the company employs more than fifty people, among whom are telecommunications technology and marketing research specialists, engineers and service technicians.
Nokia has been actively working in the Belarusian market since the launch of the first cellular network, i.e. for about 10 years now.
On June 17, 2003, a Nokia brand store was opened on the basis of the Newland showroom.
Nokia history milestones
1865: The birth of Nokia in the wood industry - the establishment of Fredrik Idestam's factory on the Nokia River, southern Finland.
1917: Nokia joins a coalition of three companies and expands its activities into rubber products and electrical cables.
1967: Nokia merges with The Finnish Rubber Works and The Finnish Cable Works. Formation of Nokia Corporation.
1973: Nokia's most popular model of rubber boots, the Kontio, is launched in a variety of colors and for all ages.
1975: MikriMikki 3 computer announced.
1977: Kari H. Kairamo becomes CEO of Nokia Corporation, marking Nokia's transformation into an electronics giant.
1979: Nokia mobile phones are born.
1981: Nokia Telecommunications is born.
1984: Nokia introduces the world's first NMT car phone and begins exporting to the Soviet Union.
1986: Nokia presents cellular telephone NMT standard. The Board of Directors divided Nokia Electronics into Nokia Information Systems, Mobile Phones and Nokia Telecommunications.
1987: Nokia introduces the world's first NMT phone that can fit in your pocket :). Operators from 13 European countries sign an agreement on joint construction and promotion of a GSM network.
1991: The first commercial call using the GSM standard was made in Finland using Nokia equipment.
1992: Jorma Ollila became General Director
1992: Nokia introduces the first portable GSM phone, the Nokia 101, which fits in your hand.
1993: Nokia adopts the slogan "Connecting people", showing Nokia's contribution to the development of wireless technologies.
1994: Nokia becomes the first European manufacturer to supply mobile phones to Japan. The 2100 series appeared. About 20,000,000 of these phones were sold worldwide.
1995: Nokia introduces the smallest base station for mobile GSM/DCS networks, Nokia PrimeSite.
1996: Nokia introduces the world's first communicator, the Nokia 9000.
1997: Nokia shifts its strategic focus to connectivity mobile technologies and the Internet
1999: Nokia releases its first WAP-enabled model, the Nokia 7110.
2000: Jorma Ollila is named Executive of the Year by Industry Week. Nokia 9210 was released - the first phone model with a color screen. Nokia split into Nokia Mobile Phones and Nokia Networks.
2001: Nokia continues its strategic development with a new goal of "Internet in everyone's pocket" and maintaining a leading position in the 21st century.
2002: 7650 - the first phone from Nokia based on the Series 60 platform and with a built-in camera. The first call was made on a commercial third-generation network based on WCDMA. Nokia 6650 announced.
