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Nokia to axe up to 14,000 jobs to cut costs

bbc.co.uk

21–30 of 137 posts

Re: Nokia to axe up to 14,000 jobs to cut costs

#21

Today they have 86000 employees so the reduction is about 16% of the total work force. It's not nothing but I wonder where and what types of work gets cut first. Usually it's not people producing stuff like programmers but roles that companies in times of trouble realize they can be without.

I had no idea what they are up to these days. I own a button dumb phone by Nokia, it's fine but would not explain even 1% of that employment number. PA says they're making telecom equipment now. Fun thing it also mentions Ericsson, which used to make phones under its brand, then Sony-Ericsson smartphones (not unlike Microsoft-Nokia) and then had to drop it completely.

The Nokia of today has little (left) in common with "the Nokia of lore". Just as that had little in common with the company that used to supply the Finnish Army with Rubber boots.

The Nokia-of-phones sold itself to Microsoft and was subsequently wound down. While the brand name for phones still exists, it's no longer held by the corporation now called "Nokia". That came to be, if you like to call it that, from a "reverse merger".

The telecommunications equipment branch (which makes base stations and wireless connectivity hardware) was partially outsourced and recombined with that of Siemens, and later I think parts of Ericsson, to form "Nokia-Siemens Networks". Which after "old-new" Nokia's demise took (bought ?) the name back and became ... just "Nokia" again.

So yes there are "Nokia phones" again/still, but they're no longer made by Nokia. While Nokia-of-today is still doing what they (if under slightly different names) have done for 25y+ - make, install, maintain telecommunications infrastructure.

Re: Nokia to axe up to 14,000 jobs to cut costs

#22

Is this the normal course of things? "We are now beginning the process of consultation on initial reductions." I'm not in the know.. but it comes off as if they have no idea what they're doing. You'd think you'd decide who you are gunna lay off before announcing it..? And they will be laying people off for two years straight? Seems like it'd just tank the moral of the whole place. I thought companies generally rip th…

In Finland there is a mandated period of 'consultation' - usually at least 2 weeks long, between company and employees (or their representatives) when such things happen. I don't know if the actual term in Finnish is supposed to sound as euphemistic as the English one - but at this point it's pretty much decided.

Is Nokia still a Finnish company ?

Re: Nokia to axe up to 14,000 jobs to cut costs

#23

Is this the normal course of things? "We are now beginning the process of consultation on initial reductions." I'm not in the know.. but it comes off as if they have no idea what they're doing. You'd think you'd decide who you are gunna lay off before announcing it..? And they will be laying people off for two years straight? Seems like it'd just tank the moral of the whole place. I thought companies generally rip th…

You'd think you'd decide who you are gunna lay off before announcing it

They almost certainly have. The consultation process is basically negotiating with the unions over what sort of package they have to offer to the laid off workers to avoid the unions being difficult about the whole thing.

Re: Nokia to axe up to 14,000 jobs to cut costs

#24
post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In Finland there is a mandated period of 'consultation' - usually at least 2 weeks long, between company and employees (or their representatives) when such things happen. I don't know if the actual term in Finnish is supposed to sound as euphemistic as the English one - but at this point it's pretty much decided.

Is Nokia still a Finnish company ?

Nokia has always been a Finnish company. They've just licensed their name out (via a daughter company) for use on phones now.

Re: Nokia to axe up to 14,000 jobs to cut costs

#25

A year before the first iPhone was released, I told Nokia they needed to take their N700 Internet Tablet, add voice calling and text messaging, and offer it in many screen sizes like 3", 4", 5", 6", and 7". If they had followed my advice instead of laughing at me they would still be the largest cell phone maker on planet Earth.

It had a resistive touch screen and stylus, so it was never going to succeed.

Re: Nokia to axe up to 14,000 jobs to cut costs

#27

A year before the first iPhone was released, I told Nokia they needed to take their N700 Internet Tablet, add voice calling and text messaging, and offer it in many screen sizes like 3", 4", 5", 6", and 7". If they had followed my advice instead of laughing at me they would still be the largest cell phone maker on planet Earth.

I had an N700 too. Nokia would be in exactly the same place today if their iPhone competitor had been that platform augmented by 3G phone capabilities.

It was a finicky Linux GUI on a resistive screen, conceptually closer to Windows Mobile and Symbian touchscreen devices (like the SonyEricsson phones) than any modern platforms.

Android would have still beaten Nokia to a usable iPhone clone/competitor.

Re: Nokia to axe up to 14,000 jobs to cut costs

#29

Is this the normal course of things? "We are now beginning the process of consultation on initial reductions." I'm not in the know.. but it comes off as if they have no idea what they're doing. You'd think you'd decide who you are gunna lay off before announcing it..? And they will be laying people off for two years straight? Seems like it'd just tank the moral of the whole place. I thought companies generally rip th…

> I thought companies generally rip the bandaid off and do it all very quickly - and have a concrete plan before an announcement

In the US yes, and companies are free to ruin the lives of thousands of people overnight in most states thanks to at-will employment.

In Europe, where Nokia is based, companies have to actually follow laws. No firing of individuals without cause, mass layoffs outside of bankruptcy have minimum terms (in Germany, you have up to 7 months until your employment actually terminates), and usually employers have to broker deals with unions, worker representatives (Germany: Betriebsrat) and government / unemployment insurance schemes as well. As a result, there's no need to "rip bandaids off" - employees know that even if there's talks of layoffs going on, their lives won't be upended randomly.

Re: Nokia to axe up to 14,000 jobs to cut costs

#30

A year before the first iPhone was released, I told Nokia they needed to take their N700 Internet Tablet, add voice calling and text messaging, and offer it in many screen sizes like 3", 4", 5", 6", and 7". If they had followed my advice instead of laughing at me they would still be the largest cell phone maker on planet Earth.

But the thing (n810) had WiMAX? I don’t think the problem was text/voice.

The problem was that it had a resistive touch screen. Samsung already had touchscreen MP3 players that you can install apps on, but it was the capacitive touch at that price point that gave Apple a good 3+ year head start on software. At the time, being able to dial phone numbers with IPhone was mind blowing versus a resistive touch

That’s what was revolutionary about IPhone. They didn’t invent capacitive but they brought it to the $1k range.

Nokia was developing their own OS and App Store, too, but it was the iPhone’s cohesive experience that made everything else fit together

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