QTECH – Nokia, which dominated the market until the launch of the iPhone in 2007, wants to make sure it is talked about again. It’s in the second year of a ten-year plan to return to the top of the mobile phone market.
“We almost owe it to ourselves to go experiment in the consumer area,” said Rajeev Suri, Nokia’s chief executive, at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.
Nokia sold its phone making arm to Microsoft in 2014. Since the sale of its mobile phone business, Nokia began to focus more extensively on its telecommunications infrastructure business, marked by the divestiture of its Here Maps division.
Then, in July it confirmed its plans to re-enter the mobile phone business, once it found a viable manufacturing, sales, marketing and customer support partner to replace Foxconn.
In the agreement with the Microsoft, Nokia will only be able to release its products on the 4th Quarter of 2016. Huge possibility that it will be released if everything goes well as planned.
In January 2016, Nokia acquired French telecommunications company Alcatel-Lucent.
It could still be a while before we see Nokia’s next foray into the world of smartphones, and Suri is determined to keep consumers guessing.
“There’s no rush, there’s no timeline,” Suri said. “It could happen in 2016, it could happen later.”
For the new phones, Nokia will be responsible for the design and the brand.
“We don’t want to just put logos on somebody’s devices,” said Suri. “It needs to feel like Nokia, what Nokia was known for.”
As part of its comeback journey, Nokia launched its Ozo virtual reality camera last year in what it described as “the first in a planned portfolio of digital media solutions”.
Before then it had been focused on developing its networking, mapping and patent licensing businesses.
Nokia is now one of the longest running smartphone manufacturers in the world.
Can You Remember These Old Nokia Phones?
Before the smartphone revolution, Nokia was the biggest phone maker on the planet.
3210. Launched in 1999 and regarded as one of the finest mobiles ever, it sold 160 million. Pre-loaded with Snake, it was also distinctive for lacking an external aerial
1100. Launched in 2003, this is Nokia’s bestselling phone of all time, with over 250 million people purchasing one
6310i. A staple of the business community years after it was discontinued, this has tri-band reception, email that worked, and bluetooth
3310. This was many people’s first mobile. Virtually indestructible, many a school lunch break was whiled away on Snake II, Space Impact, Bantumi and Pairs II
6600. It might look dated now, but this was incredibly advanced when it launched in 2003. It could take and send video and had a 640×480 pixel camera
N95. Launched in March 2007 – mere months before the iPhone turned the mobile phone market on its head – this had a FIVE MEGAPIXEL camera and Wi-Fi
7600. Arguably where it started to go wrong for Nokia, this “teardrop” design aimed at the fashion market never really took off
7280. The lipstick phone was a devil to work, featuring no keypad but a spinning dial to type in numbers. Not recommended for anyone who favoured functionality over form
