Nokia set to rejoin handset market
Print Edition
NOKIA, once the world’s top mobile phone maker, yesterday announced its return to the fiercely competitive handset and tablet market years after being crushed there by Samsung and Apple.
Now a leading telecom equipment maker, the company said it will licence its brand to a new Finnish company, which will produce phones and tablets under the Nokia name.
The new firm, HMD Global, “has been founded to provide a focused, independent home for a full range of Nokia-branded feature phones, smartphones and tablets,” it said in a statement.
As part of the process, HMD Global and its Taiwan-based partner, FIH Mobile of Foxconn Technology Group, will take over Microsoft’s feature phone business for US$350 million, Microsoft said separately.
Nokia was the world’s leading mobile phone maker from 1998 until 2011 when it bet on Microsoft’s Windows mobile platform which proved to be a flop. Its new product portfolio will be based on Google’s Android.
The Finnish company sold its unprofitable handset unit in 2014 for about US$7.2 billion to Microsoft, which dropped the Nokia name from its Lumia smartphone handsets.
Meanwhile Nokia has concentrated on developing its mobile network equipment business by acquiring its French-American rival Alcatel-Lucent.
With the new deal, Nokia said it is eying new revenue from its still valuable consumer-brand, without having to bear the financial risks related to it.
“Working with HMD and FIH will let us participate in one of the largest consumer electronics markets in the world while staying true to our licensing business model,” said Ramzi Haidamus, president of Nokia Technologies business unit.
HMD is a private venture in which Nokia won’t hold equity.
Sami Sarkamies, a senior analyst at Nordea Markets, said Nokia “could only win” with the deal.
“Certainly Nokia’s brand still has some appeal in some markets ... However, Nokia won’t bear any of the risks,” he said, estimating the extra revenue will be counted in tens, not hundreds, of millions of euros.
The risks will fall on Foxconn, which will be in charge of manufacturing, sales and distribution through its subsidiary FIH.
The new company is to be led by Finn Arto Nummela who has previously held senior positions both at Nokia and Microsoft.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
