Nokia Shedding 3,500 Jobs
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Nokia has bet its future on Windows Phone 7, but before CEO Steven Elop has a chance to prove that he isn’t just jumping from one burning platform to the next, he still has several challenges to overcome. Chief among them is a massive workforce that up until now, the company has maintained despite quarter after quarter of market share losses. Analysts knew Nokia couldn’t keep it up forever, and were not surprised to hear that the company is announcing over 3,500 layoff’s that will target manufacturing, location and commerce, as well as administrative staff.
The changes are painful, yet necessary, and will turn Nokia into a "more dynamic, nimble and efficient challenger," CEO Stephen Elop said in a statement. In addition to the layoff’s Nokia also announce it would be closing its factory in Cluj, Romania by the end of the year, likely as a result of productivity gains in its Asian facilities. Going forward, the company plans to concentrate its development efforts in Berlin, Boston and Chicago, while closing operations in Bonn, Germany, and Malvern USA.
Nobody likes to hear about job cuts, but Nokia likely had little choice in the wake of extremely light demand for its existing Symbian-based smartphones. It’s possible Nokia might be able to ramp up a bit once they get going with Windows Phone 7, but without the need to develop its own OS, they can likely run indefinitely with less in-house engineering.
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nealtse
October 04, 2011 at 10:00am
i do mourn Nokia. I loved Nokia, grew up using their phones and they rarely failed me. They've consistently held up better then many other phones. They make superior phones and phone environments, but I think now that people don't want phones, they want little computers with phone functions, and that's where Nokia has gotten stuck to playing catchup.
I almost screamed in frustration when they unceremoniously dumped Meego and shacked up with Win7. There was some real potential there, and I would have loved to see what innovations they could bring to the table that Android and iOS hadn't thought of.
PhuxAche
October 02, 2011 at 4:57pm
It's a sad day for Nokia. Once the leader in Mobile Phones, and to have the newest Nokia first always had your friends full of envy! Since the release of HTC and "ugh" iPhone, Nokia lost its grip fast.
On release of Nokia N8 I was excited but quickly turned off by the fact that this phone was still using the Symbian OS. This was old and hadn't changed much over the years. This I believe is what sealed Nokia's fate. I think Nokia IMHO made the biggest mistake in its history sticking with this OS. The Android OS was far superior and offered so much more.
Maybe if Nokia had ditched Symbian and used Android or even created a spanking new OS from the ground up for the release of the N8, things might have been a lot different today. N95 was my last Nokia phone but even then I was already bored with Symbian.
Here's hoping Nokia can claim back its dignity with the Windows OS which I think still needs some wrinkles ironed out but hopefully Mango will lead the way!
JCGPZ9
October 03, 2011 at 5:22am
Meego looked like a nice mobile OS but Nokia seemed to have abandoned it, especially when Nokia signed on to work with MS on WP7 phones.
Looking forward to the WP7 devices as that mobile OS is quite nice and very smooth.
dentaku
October 02, 2011 at 3:09pm
The first sightings of the Nokia Maps app for WP7 just popped up so the new phones can't be far away.
http://www.istartedsomething.com/20111002/nokia-maps-for-windows-phone-7-marketplace-listing-screenshots-revealed/#more-4869
Holly Golightly
October 02, 2011 at 12:50pm
This is bad news... They better hurry up on the Sea Ray. I am waiting for my Magenta Sea Ray to be made already. They will be making so much money if they just hurry up with the transistion from Symbian to Windows Phone 7. Taking too long now.
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