Nokia
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article is about the telecommunications corporation. For the Finnish town, see Nokia, Finland. For other uses, see Nokia (disambiguation).
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| Type | Public company |
|---|---|
| Traded as | OMX: NOK1V, NYSE: NOK, FWB: NOA3 |
| Industry | Telecommunications Internet Computer software |
| Founded | Tampere, Finland, Russian Empire (1865) incorporated in Nokia (1871) |
| Founder(s) | Fredrik Idestam Leo Mechelin |
| Headquarters | Espoo, Finland |
| Area served | Worldwide |
| Key people | Jorma Ollila (Chairman) Stephen Elop (President & CEO) Timo Ihamuotila (CFO) Kai Öistämö (CDO) Henry Tirri (CTO) |
| Products | Mobile phones Smartphones Mobile computers Networks (See products listing) |
| Services | Maps and navigation, music, messaging and media Software solutions (See services listing) |
| Revenue |  €38.65 billion (2011)[1] |
| Operating income | €-1.073 billion (2011)[1] |
| Net income | €-1.164 billion (2011)[1] |
| Total assets | €36.20 billion (2011)[1] |
| Total equity | €11.87 billion (2011)[1] |
| Employees | 134,171 (2011)[1] |
| Divisions | Mobile Solutions Mobile Phones Markets |
| Subsidiaries | Nokia Siemens Networks Navteq Symbian Vertu Qt Development Frameworks |
| Website | Nokia.com |
Nokia is a public limited-liability company listed on the Helsinki, Frankfurt, and New York stock exchanges, [6] and plays a very large role in the economy of Finland, accounting for about a third of the market capitalization of the Helsinki Stock Exchange (OMX Helsinki) in 2007.[7]
The Nokia brand, valued at $25 billion, is listed as the 14th most valuable global brand in the Interbrand/BusinessWeek Best Global Brands list of 2011.[8] It is the 14th ranked brand corporation in Europe (as of 2011),[9] the 8th most admirable Network and Other Communications Equipment company worldwide in Fortune's World's Most Admired Companies list of 2011,[10] and the world's 143th largest company as measured by revenue in Fortune Global 500 list of 2011.[11] In July 2010, Nokia reported a drop in profits by 40%,[12] which turned into an operating loss of €487 million in Q2 2011.[13] In the global smartphone rivalry,[14] Nokia held the 3rd place in 2Q2011, trailing behind Samsung and Apple.[15][16]
On 11 February 2011 Nokia announced a partnership with Microsoft; all Nokia smartphones introduced since then were to run under Microsoft's Windows Phone (WP) operating system. On 26 October 2011 Nokia unveiled its first Windows Phone handsets, the WP7.5 Lumia 710 and 800.[17]
[edit] History
[edit] Pre-telecommunications era
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Fredrik Idestam, founder of Nokia.
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Statesman Leo Mechelin, co-founder of Nokia.
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Nokia's history started in 1865 when mining engineer Fredrik Idestam established a groundwood pulp mill on the banks of the Tammerkoski rapids in the town of Tampere, in southwestern Finland in Russian Empire and started manufacturing paper.[20] In 1868, Idestam built a second mill near the town of Nokia, fifteen kilometres (nine miles) west of Tampere by the Nokianvirta river, which had better resources for hydropower production.[21] In 1871, Idestam, with the help of his close friend statesman Leo Mechelin, renamed and transformed his firm into a share company, thereby founding the Nokia Company, the name it is still known by today.[21]
Toward the end of the 19th century, Mechelin's wishes to expand into the electricity business were at first thwarted by Idestam's opposition. However, Idestam's retirement from the management of the company in 1896 allowed Mechelin to become the company's chairman (from 1898 until 1914) and sell most shareholders on his plans, thus realizing his vision.[21] In 1902, Nokia added electricity generation to its business activities.[20]
[edit] Industrial conglomerate
In 1898, Eduard Polón founded Finnish Rubber Works, manufacturer of galoshes and other rubber products, which later became Nokia's rubber business.[19] At the beginning of the 20th century, Finnish Rubber Works established its factories near the town of Nokia and they began using Nokia as its product brand.[22] In 1912, Arvid Wickström founded Finnish Cable Works, producer of telephone, telegraph and electrical cables and the foundation of Nokia's cable and electronics businesses.[19] At the end of the 1910s, shortly after World War I, the Nokia Company was nearing bankruptcy.[23] To ensure the continuation of electricity supply from Nokia's generators, Finnish Rubber Works acquired the business of the insolvent company.[23] In 1922, Finnish Rubber Works acquired Finnish Cable Works.[24] In 1937, Verner Weckman, a sport wrestler and Finland's first Olympic Gold medalist, became President of Finnish Cable Works, after 16 years as its Technical Director.[25] After World War II, Finnish Cable Works supplied cables to the Soviet Union as part of Finland's war reparations. This gave the company a good foothold for later trade.[25]The three companies, which had been jointly owned since 1922, were merged to form a new industrial conglomerate, Nokia Corporation in 1967 and paved the way for Nokia's future as a global corporation.[26] The new company was involved in many industries, producing at one time or another paper products, car and bicycle tires, footwear (including rubber boots), communications cables, televisions and other consumer electronics, personal computers, electricity generation machinery, robotics, capacitors, military communications and equipment (such as the SANLA M/90 device and the M61 gas mask for the Finnish Army), plastics, aluminium and chemicals.[18] Each business unit had its own director who reported to the first Nokia Corporation President, Björn Westerlund. As the president of the Finnish Cable Works, he had been responsible for setting up the company's first electronics department in 1960, sowing the seeds of Nokia's future in telecommunications.[27]
Eventually, the company decided to leave consumer electronics behind in the 1990s and focused solely on the fastest growing segments in telecommunications.[28] Nokian Tyres, manufacturer of tires, split from Nokia Corporation to form its own company in 1988[29] and two years later Nokian Footwear, manufacturer of rubber boots, was founded.[22] During the rest of the 1990s, Nokia divested itself of all of its non-telecommunications businesses.[28]
[edit] Telecommunications era
The seeds of the current incarnation of Nokia were planted with the founding of the electronics section of the cable division in 1960 and the production of its first electronic device in 1962: a pulse analyzer designed for use in nuclear power plants.[27] In the 1967 fusion, that section was separated into its own division, and began manufacturing telecommunications equipment. A key CEO and subsequent Chairman of the Board was vuorineuvos Björn "Nalle" Westerlund (1912–2009), who founded the electronics department and let it run at a loss for 15 years.[edit] Networking equipment
In the 1970s, Nokia became more involved in the telecommunications industry by developing the Nokia DX 200, a digital switch for telephone exchanges. The DX 200 became the workhorse of the network equipment division. Its modular and flexible architecture enabled it to be developed into various switching products.[30] In 1984, development of a version of the exchange for the Nordic Mobile Telephony network was started.[31]For a while in the 1970s, Nokia's network equipment production was separated into Telefenno, a company jointly owned by the parent corporation and by a company owned by the Finnish state. In 1987, the state sold its shares to Nokia and in 1992 the name was changed to Nokia Telecommunications.
In the 1970s and 1980s, Nokia developed the Sanomalaitejärjestelmä ("Message device system"), a digital, portable and encrypted text-based communications device for the Finnish Defence Forces.[32] The current main unit used by the Defence Forces is the Sanomalaite M/90 (SANLA M/90).[33]
[edit] First mobile phones
In 1979, the merger of Nokia and Salora resulted in the establishment of Mobira Oy. Mobira began developing mobile phones for the NMT (Nordic Mobile Telephony) network standard, the first-generation, first fully automatic cellular phone system that went online in 1981.[37] In 1982, Mobira introduced its first car phone, the Mobira Senator for NMT-450 networks.[37]
Nokia bought Salora Oy in 1984 and now owning 100% of the company, changed the company's telecommunications branch name to Nokia-Mobira Oy. The Mobira Talkman, launched in 1984, was one of the world's first transportable phones. In 1987, Nokia introduced one of the world's first handheld phones, the Mobira Cityman 900 for NMT-900 networks (which, compared to NMT-450, offered a better signal, yet a shorter roam). While the Mobira Senator of 1982 had weighed 9.8 kg (22 lb) and the Talkman just under 5 kg (11 lb), the Mobira Cityman weighed only 800 g (28 oz) with the battery and had a price tag of 24,000 Finnish marks (approximately €4,560).[35] Despite the high price, the first phones were almost snatched from the sales assistants' hands. Initially, the mobile phone was a "yuppie" product and a status symbol.[18]
Nokia's mobile phones got a big publicity boost in 1987, when Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev was pictured using a Mobira Cityman to make a call from Helsinki to his communications minister in Moscow. This led to the phone's nickname of the "Gorba".[35]
In 1988, Jorma Nieminen, resigning from the post of CEO of the mobile phone unit, along with two other employees from the unit, started a notable mobile phone company of their own, Benefon Oy (since renamed to GeoSentric).[38] One year later, Nokia-Mobira Oy became Nokia Mobile Phones.
[edit] Involvement in GSM
Nokia was one of the key developers of GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications),[39] the second-generation mobile technology which could carry data as well as voice traffic. NMT (Nordic Mobile Telephony), the world's first mobile telephony standard that enabled international roaming, provided valuable experience for Nokia for its close participation in developing GSM, which was adopted in 1987 as the new European standard for digital mobile technology.[40][41]Nokia delivered its first GSM network to the Finnish operator Radiolinja in 1989.[42] The world's first commercial GSM call was made on 1 July 1991 in Helsinki, Finland over a Nokia-supplied network, by then Prime Minister of Finland Harri Holkeri, using a prototype Nokia GSM phone.[42] In 1992, the first GSM phone, the Nokia 1011, was launched.[42][43] The model number refers to its launch date, 10 November.[43] The Nokia 1011 did not yet employ Nokia's characteristic ringtone, the Nokia tune. It was introduced as a ringtone in 1994 with the Nokia 2100 series.[44]
GSM's high-quality voice calls, easy international roaming and support for new services like text messaging (SMS) laid the foundations for a worldwide boom in mobile phone use.[42] GSM came to dominate the world of mobile telephony in the 1990s, in mid-2008 accounting for about three billion mobile telephone subscribers in the world, with more than 700 mobile operators across 218 countries and territories. New connections are added at the rate of 15 per second, or 1.3 million per day.[45]
[edit] Personal computers and IT equipment
Fujitsu later transferred its personal computer operations to Fujitsu Siemens Computers, which shut down its only factory in Espoo, Finland (in the Kilo district, where computers had been produced since the 1960s) at the end of March 2000,[49][50] thus ending large-scale PC manufacturing in the country. Nokia was also known for producing very high quality CRT and early TFT LCD displays for PC and larger systems application. The Nokia Display Products' branded business was sold to ViewSonic in 2000.[51] In addition to personal computers and displays, Nokia used to manufacture DSL modems and digital set-top boxes.
Nokia re-entered the PC market in August 2009 with the introduction of the Nokia Booklet 3G mini laptop.[52]
[edit] Challenges of growth
In the 1980s, during the era of its CEO Kari Kairamo, Nokia expanded into new fields, mostly by acquisitions. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the corporation ran into serious financial problems, a major reason being its heavy losses by the television manufacturing division and businesses that were just too diverse.[53] These problems, and a suspected total burnout, probably contributed to Kairamo taking his own life in 1988. After Kairamo's death, Simo Vuorilehto became Nokia's Chairman and CEO. In 1990–1993, Finland underwent severe economic depression,[54] which also struck Nokia. Under Vuorilehto's management, Nokia was severely overhauled. The company responded by streamlining its telecommunications divisions, and by divesting itself of the television and PC divisions.[55]Probably the most important strategic change in Nokia's history was made in 1992, however, when the new CEO Jorma Ollila made a crucial strategic decision to concentrate solely on telecommunications.[28] Thus, during the rest of the 1990s, the rubber, cable and consumer electronics divisions were gradually sold as Nokia continued to divest itself of all of its non-telecommunications businesses.[28]
As late as 1991, more than a quarter of Nokia's turnover still came from sales in Finland. However, after the strategic change of 1992, Nokia saw a huge increase in sales to North America, South America and Asia.[56] The exploding worldwide popularity of mobile telephones, beyond even Nokia's most optimistic predictions, caused a logistics crisis in the mid-1990s.[57] This prompted Nokia to overhaul its entire logistics operation.[58] By 1998, Nokia's focus on telecommunications and its early investment in GSM technologies had made the company the world's largest mobile phone manufacturer.[56] Between 1996 and 2001, Nokia's turnover increased almost fivefold from 6.5 billion euros to 31 billion euros.[56] Logistics continues to be one of Nokia's major advantages over its rivals, along with greater economies of scale.[59][60]
[edit] Recent history
[edit] Product releases
Nokia Productions was the first ever mobile filmmaking project directed by Spike Lee. Work began in April 2008, and the film premiered in October 2008.[63]
In 2008, Nokia released the Nokia E71 which was marketed to directly compete with the other BlackBerry-type devices offering a full "qwerty" keyboard and cheaper prices. Nokia announced in August 2009 that they will be selling a high-end Windows-based mini laptop called the Nokia Booklet 3G.[52] On 2 September 2009, Nokia launched two new music and social networking phones, the X6 and X3.[64] The Nokia X6 features 32GB of on-board memory with a 3.2" finger touch interface and comes with a music playback time of 35 hours. The Nokia X3 is a first series 40 Ovi Store-enabled device. The X3 is a music device that comes with stereo speakers, built-in FM radio, and a 3.2 megapixel camera. On 10 September 2009, Nokia unveiled a new handset, the 7705 Twist, a phone with a sports square shape that swivels open to reveal a full QWERTY keypad.[65] The new mobile, which will be available exclusively through Verizon Wireless, features a 3 megapixel camera, web browsing, voice commands and weighs around 3.44 ounces (98 g).
[edit] Plant movements
Nokia opened its Komárom, Hungary mobile phone factory on 5 May 2000.[66]In March 2007, Nokia signed a memorandum with Cluj County Council, Romania to open a new plant near the city in Jucu commune.[67][68][69] Moving the production from the Bochum, Germany factory to a low wage country created an uproar in Germany.[70][71] Nokia recently moved its North American Headquarters to Sunnyvale.
[edit] Reorganizations
In April 2003, the troubles of the networks equipment division caused the corporation to resort to similar streamlining practices on that side, including layoffs and organizational restructuring.[72] This diminished Nokia's public image in Finland,[73][74] and produced a number of court cases and an episode of a documentary television show critical of Nokia.[75]On February 2006, Nokia and Sanyo announced a memorandum of understanding to create a joint venture addressing the CDMA handset business. But in June, they announced ending negotiations without agreement. Nokia also stated its decision to pull out of CDMA research and development, to continue CDMA business in selected markets.[76][77][78]
In June 2006, Jorma Ollila left his position as CEO to become the chairman of Royal Dutch Shell[79] and to give way for Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo.[80][81]
In May 2008, Nokia announced on their annual stockholder meeting that they want to shift to the Internet business as a whole. Nokia no longer wants to be seen as the telephone company. Google, Apple and Microsoft are not seen as natural competition for their new image but they are considered as major important players to deal with.[82]
In November 2008, Nokia announced it was ceasing mobile phone distribution in Japan.[83] Following early December, distribution of Nokia E71 is cancelled, both from NTT docomo and SoftBank Mobile. Nokia Japan retains global research & development programs, sourcing business, and an MVNO venture of Vertu luxury phones, using docomo's telecommunications network.
In March 2012, Nokia anonunced it was laying off 1000 employess from its Salo, Finland factory to focus on software.[84]
[edit] Acquisitions
For a more comprehensive list, see List of acquisitions by Nokia.
On 16 November 2005, Nokia and Intellisync Corporation, a provider of data and PIM synchronization software, signed a definitive agreement for Nokia to acquire Intellisync.[86] Nokia completed the acquisition on 10 February 2006.[87]
On 19 June 2006, Nokia and Siemens AG announced the companies would merge their mobile and fixed-line phone network equipment businesses to create one of the world's largest network firms, Nokia Siemens Networks.[88] Each company has a 50% stake in the infrastructure company, and it is headquartered in Espoo, Finland. The companies predicted annual sales of €16 bn and cost savings of €1.5 bn a year by 2010. About 20,000 Nokia employees were transferred to this new company.
On 8 August 2006, Nokia and Loudeye Corp. announced that they had signed an agreement for Nokia to acquire online music distributor Loudeye Corporation for approximately US $60 million.[89] The company has been developing this into an online music service in the hope of using it to generate handset sales. The service, launched on 29 August 2007, is aimed to rival iTunes. Nokia completed the acquisition on 16 October 2006.[90]
In July 2007, Nokia acquired all assets of Twango, the comprehensive media sharing solution for organizing and sharing photos, videos and other personal media.[91][92]
In September 2007, Nokia announced its intention to acquire Enpocket, a supplier of mobile advertising technology and services.[93]
In October 2007, pending shareholder and regulatory approval, Nokia bought Navteq, a U.S.-based supplier of digital mapping data, for a price of $8.1 billion.[5][94] Nokia finalized the acquisition on 10 July 2008.[95]
In September, 2008, Nokia acquired OZ Communications, a privately held company with approximately 220 employees headquartered in Montreal, Canada.[96]
On 24 July 2009, Nokia announced that it will acquire certain assets of cellity, a privately owned mobile software company which employs 14 people in Hamburg, Germany.[97] The acquisition of cellity was completed on 5 August 2009.[98]
On 11 September 2009, Nokia announced the acquisition of "certain assets of Plum Ventures, Inc, a privately held company which employed approximately 10 people with main offices in Boston, Massachusetts. Plum will complement Nokia's Social Location services".[99]
On 28 March 2010, Nokia announced the acquisition of Novarra, the mobile web browser firm from Chicago. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.Novarra is a privately held company based in Chicago, IL and provider of a mobile browser and service platform and has more than 100 employees.[100]
On 10 April 2010, Nokia announced its acquisition of MetaCarta, whose technology was planned to be used in the area of local search, particularly involving location and other services. Financial details of acquisition were not disclosed.[101]
[edit] Curtailments
Amid falling sales, Nokia posted a loss of 368 million euros for Q2 2011, while in Q2 2010 had still a profit of 227 million euros. On September 2011, Nokia has announced it will lose another 3,500 jobs worldwide, including the closure of its Cluj factory in Romania.[102]On 8 February 2012 Nokia Corp. said to cut around 4,000 jobs at smartphone manufacturing plants in Europe by the end of 2012 to move assembly closer to component supplier in Asia. It plans to cut 2,300 of the 4,400 jobs in Hungary, 700 out of 1,000 jobs in Mexico, and 1,000 out of 1,700 factory jobs in Finland.[103]
[edit] Operating systems
The first Nseries device, the N90, utilised the older Symbian OS 8.1 mobile operating system, as did the N70. Subsequently Nokia switched to using SymbianOS 9 for all later Nseries devices (except the N72, which was based on the N70). Newer Nseries devices incorporate newer revisions of SymbianOS 9 that include Feature Packs. The N800, N810 and N900 are as of July 2010 the only Nseries devices to not use Symbian OS. They use the Linux-based Maemo.[104]
Nokia stated that Maemo would be developed alongside Symbian.
Maemo has since (Maemo "6" and beyond) merged with Intel's Moblin, and become MeeGo, which will continue to be developed for mobile devices.
The Nokia N8 is the first device to function on the Symbian^3 mobile operating system.
Nokia revealed that the N8 will be the last device in its flagship N-series devices to ship with Symbian OS.[105][106]
Instead, Nokia will use Microsoft Windows Phone for its high-end flagship devices, and revealed the Nokia N9 will function on the MeeGo mobile operating system.
[edit] Alliance with Microsoft
On 11 February 2011, Nokia's CEO Stephen Elop, a former Microsoft employee, unveiled a new strategic alliance with Microsoft, and announced it would replace Symbian and MeeGo with Microsoft's Windows Phone operating system[107][108] except for mid-to-low-end devices, which would continue to run under Symbian. Nokia was also to invest into the Series 40 platform and release a single MeeGo product in 2011.[109]These news was not well received by consumers, and has contributed to the decline in the stock price by 11%.[1]
As part of the restructuring plan, Nokia planned to reduce spending on research and development, instead customising and enhancing the software line for Windows Phone 7.[110] Nokia's "applications and content store" (Ovi) becomes integrated into the Windows Phone Marketplace, and Nokia Maps is at the heart of Microsoft's Bing and AdCenter. Microsoft provides developer tools to Nokia to replace the Qt framework, which is not supported by Windows Phone 7 devices.[111]
Symbian becomes described as a "franchise platform" with Nokia planning to sell 150 million Symbian devices after the alliance was set up. MeeGo emphasis is on longer-term exploration, with plans to ship "a MeeGo-related product" later in 2012. Microsoft's search engine, Bing becomes the search engine for all Nokia phones. Nokia also gets some level of customisation on WP7.[112]
After this announcement, Nokia's share price fell about 14%, its biggest drop since July 2009.[113]
As Nokia was the largest mobile phone manufacturer worldwide at the time,[3] it is suggested the alliance would make Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 a stronger contender against Android and iOS.[111] In June 2011 Nokia was overtaken by Apple as the world's biggest smartphone maker by volume.[114] In August 2011 Chris Weber, head of Nokia's subsidiary in the U.S., stated "The reality is if we are not successful with Windows Phone, it doesn't matter what we do (elsewhere)." He further added "North America is a priority for Nokia (...) because it is a key market for Microsoft."[115]
[edit] Corporate affairs
[edit] Corporate structure
[edit] Divisions
Since 1 July 2010, Nokia comprises three business groups: Mobile Solutions, Mobile Phones and Markets.[116] The three units receive operational support from the Corporate Development Office, led by Kai Öistämö, which is also responsible for exploring corporate strategic and future growth opportunities.[116]On 1 April 2007, Nokia's Networks business group was combined with Siemens's carrier-related operations for fixed and mobile networks to form Nokia Siemens Networks, jointly owned by Nokia and Siemens and consolidated by Nokia.[117]
[edit] Mobile Solutions
[edit] Mobile Phones
Mobile Phones is responsible for Nokia's portfolio of affordable mobile phones, as well as a range of services that people can access with them, headed by Mary T. McDowell.[116] This unit provides the general public with mobile voice and data products across a range of devices, including high-volume, consumer oriented mobile phones. The devices are based on GSM/EDGE, 3G/W-CDMA and CDMA cellular technologies.In the first quarter of 2006 Nokia sold over 15 million MP3 capable mobile phones, which means that Nokia is not only the world's leading supplier of mobile phones and digital cameras (as most of Nokia's mobile telephones feature digital cameras, it is also believed that Nokia has recently overtaken Kodak in camera production making it the largest in the world)[citation needed], Nokia is now also the leading supplier of digital audio players (MP3 players), outpacing sales of devices such as the iPod from Apple.[citation needed] At the end of the year 2007, Nokia managed to sell almost 440 million mobile phones which accounted for 40% of all global mobile phones sales.[118] By 2010, Nokia's market share in the mobile phone market had dropped to 32.6% (453 million phones).[119]
Anssi Vanjoki resigned a few days before Nokia World 2010 and under new leadership team Jo Harlow will look into the affairs of Smartphones portfolio.
On 27 April 2011, The Register reported that Nokia is secretly developing a new operating system called Meltemi aiming at the low-end market. It is believed it will be replacing the S30 and S40 operating systems. Due to low-end market customers' demand of having smartphone features in their feature phone, the OS will include some features exclusive to high-end smartphones.
See also: Category:Nokia mobile phones
[edit] Markets
Markets is responsible for Nokia's supply chains, sales channels, brand and marketing functions of the company, and is responsible for delivering mobile solutions and mobile phones to the market. The unit is headed by Niklas Savander.[116][edit] Subsidiaries
Until 2008 Nokia was the major shareholder in Symbian Limited, a software development and licensing company that produced Symbian OS, a smartphone operating system used by Nokia and other manufacturers. In 2008 Nokia acquired Symbian Ltd and, along with a number of other companies, created the Symbian Foundation to distribute the Symbian platform royalty free and as open source.
[edit] Nokia Siemens Networks
Main article: Nokia Siemens Networks
Nokia Siemens Networks (previously Nokia Networks) provides wireless
and fixed network infrastructure, communications and networks service
platforms, as well as professional services to operators and service
providers.[116] Nokia Siemens Networks focuses in GSM, EDGE, 3G/W-CDMA and WiMAX radio access networks; core networks with increasing IP and multiaccess capabilities; and services.On 19 June 2006 Nokia and Siemens AG announced the companies are to merge their mobile and fixed-line phone network equipment businesses to create one of the world's largest network firms, called Nokia Siemens Networks.[88] The Nokia Siemens Networks brand identity was subsequently launched at the 3GSM World Congress in Barcelona in February 2007.[120][121]
As of March 2009, Nokia Siemens Networks serves more than 600 operator customers in more than 150 countries, with over 1.5 billion people connected through its networks.[122]
On 22 August 2011 Nokia Siemens became embroiled in a scandal related to the use and abuse of surveillance systems delivered to the Bahrain government by one of its former business units, Nokia Siemens Intelligence Solutions (NSIS). The spy gear in Bahrain was sold by Siemens AG (SIE), and maintained by Nokia Siemens Networks and NSN's divested unit, Trovicor GmbH. The sale and maintenance contracts were also confirmed by Ben Roome, a Nokia Siemens spokesman based in Farnborough, England. The system was reportedly used as the investigative tool of choice to gather information about political dissidents—and silence them. Companies such as Nokia and Nokia Siemens are free to sell such equipment almost anywhere. For the most part, the U.S. and European countries lack export controls to deter the use of such systems for repression, as was the case in Bahrain were at least 30 people were killed during the 2011 uprising. Many Western nations actively support the export of these systems of repression, e.g. to countries that are home to some of the U.S. Navy's Fleet. Monitoring centers, as the systems are called, are sold around the globe by Nokia Siemens and its competitors, such as Israel-based Nice Systems Ltd. (NICE), and Verint Systems Inc. (VRNT), headquartered in Melville, New York. They form the heart of so-called lawful interception surveillance systems. By the end of 2007, the Nokia Siemens Intelligence Solutions unit had more than 90 systems installed in 60 countries.[123] Besides Bahrain, several other Middle Eastern nations that cracked down on uprisings this year—including Egypt, Syria and Yemen—also purchased monitoring centers from the chain of businesses now known as Trovicor. Trovicor equipment plays a surveillance role in at least 12 Middle Eastern and North African nations. Trovicor's precursor, which started in 1993 as the voice- and data-recording unit of Siemens, in 2007 became part of Nokia Siemens Networks, the world's second biggest maker of wireless communications equipment. NSN, a 50-50 joint venture with Espoo, Finland-based Nokia Oyj (NOK1V), sold the unit, known as Intelligence Solutions, in March 2009. The new owners, Guernsey-based Perusa Partners Fund 1 LP, renamed the business Trovicor, coined from the Latin and Esperanto words for find and heart, according to the company's website. According to NSN the elevated risk of human rights abuses was a major reason for NSN's exiting the monitoring-center business. In Bahrain, officials routinely used the NSIS surveillance systems as a basis for the arrest and torture of political opponents; legally the monitoring technology is to be only used by order of legal authorities such as judges and prosecutors. According to local regulations, every Bahraini phone and Internet operator must provide the state with the ability to monitor communications. Phone companies also must track the location of phones within a 164-foot (50-meter) radius, the rules say. NSN and Trovicor's status as exclusive provider in Bahrain continued at least through 2009. That period of more than two years coincides with the dates of text messages used to interrogate scores of political detainees. Authorities used messages that dated as far back as the mid-2000s, even in recent interrogations.[124]
[edit]
Main article: Navteq
Navteq is a Chicago, Illinois-based provider of digital map data and
location-based content and services for automotive navigation systems,
mobile navigation devices, Internet-based mapping applications, and
government and business solutions.[116] Navteq was acquired by Nokia on 1 October 2007.[5] Navteq's map data is part of the Nokia Maps online service where users can download maps, use voice-guided navigation and other context-aware web services.[116] Nokia Maps is part of the Ovi brand of Nokia's Internet based online services.[edit] Corporate governance
The control and management of Nokia is divided among the shareholders at a general meeting and the Group Executive Board (left),[125] under the direction of the Board of Directors (right).[126] The Chairman and the rest of the Group Executive Board members are appointed by the Board of Directors. Only the Chairman of the Group Executive Board can belong to both, the Board of Directors and the Group Executive Board. The Board of Directors' committees consist of the Audit Committee,[127] the Personnel Committee[128] and the Corporate Governance and Nomination Committee.[129][130]The operations of the company are managed within the framework set by the Finnish Companies Act,[131] Nokia's Articles of Association[132] and Corporate Governance Guidelines,[133] and related Board of Directors adopted charters.
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