The Nokia That Beat Apple
The Nokia That Beat Apple
Everyone owned a Nokia phone in the 2000s. It became the favourite device for many people around the world due to its longevity and ease of use. According to the BBC, Nokia’s market share was dominant in 2007, with a 49.4% share of the total mobile phone market. While it continued to lose market share in the years that followed, Nokia managed to hold the top spot for more than a decade before it began to collapse.
Nokia Had Humble Beginnings
Some may be surprised to find that Nokia did not begin as a technology business at all. Nokia began as a pulp mill for paper manufacture in Finland in 1865. As it extended its operations, the corporation, named after the town in which it was situated, worked with local companies such as Finnish Cable Works.
It combined with Finnish Cable Works and Finnish Rubber Works to become Nokia Corporation. By the 1970s, it had entered and become a prominent player in the electronics sector. While it would continue to have other business lines, it would be most recognised for its mobile phones. Eventually, it would begin to withdraw funds from its rubber and paper activities in order to focus completely on technology and phones.
Nokia entered the mobile phone market in the 1980s, embarking on a series of acquisitions to consolidate its position as a major global technology corporation. With the purchases of Salora, Mobria, and Ericsson’s Information Systems group, the company was well on its way to developing its first mobile phone. This is the 1982 Mobria Senator vehicle phone, which influenced the design of phones that we use today.
The Early 2000s Were Nokia’s Golden Years
The early 2000s were probably the company’s golden era, with the launching of its best-selling telephones, the Nokia 1100 and Nokia 1110, in 2002 and 2005, respectively. According to Statista, this would result in the company’s most lucrative year ever, with $51 billion in revenues in 2007.
This was also the year that the first iPhone, which was considered a novel and emerging technology at the time, was released. Unfortunately, no one foresaw the future, even Nokia, as the iPhone would be a major reason in its demise.
Nokia will go on to have over 30% of the market share in the global mobile phone industry by 2010. This, however, would all come to a halt in a matter of months when competitors like as Samsung, HTC, and Apple began to dominate the sector. By April 2012, Samsung had surpassed Nokia to take the top rank. While Nokia planned a few more product offers, it would finally leave the business.
The Future Of Nokia
Nokia still exists today, however it is focusing on new areas of technology. In addition to a recent rebranding, the business has refocused its operations on telecommunications and industrial digitalization, while HMD Global continues to sell phones under the Nokia brand. While its mobile phone division’s failures are among the most epic in the history of any global organisation, the company itself is far from a failure.
In addition to the licencing arrangement with HMD Global, the business bought Alcatel-Lucent and Bell Labs to work on cutting-edge technology and remains a significant patent licensor to numerous mobile phone producers across the world. The company provides a cheap brand of cell phones as well as a higher-end line of tablets online.
While Nokia failed miserably after dominating the mobile phone industry, it was eventually divested of the business line. In actuality, Microsoft ended up losing money on the transaction and bearing the brunt of Nokia’s difficulties. The corporation is financially profitable, with annual gross profits in the billions since 2021.
