The next Motorola Nokia backwaters

Nokia never wants to be the next Motorola.

After a series of bad news, Nokia announced yesterday that it will lay off 3,500 people.

As part of the restructuring plan, Nokia will also close a mobile phone plant in Romania and will join Siemens AG (Siemens AG, SIE.XE) to their loss-making telecommunications equipment joint venture, Nokia Siemens Networks. Capital injection of 500 million euros to reverse the company's loss situation.

While market share continues to be eroded by Apple and fast-growing Asian companies like HTC, Nokia President and CEO Stephen Elop had to “slim down” Espoo (where Nokia headquarters in Finland).

In fact, no matter if it is from the sales or profit indicators, Nokia has reached a back-to-back situation.

According to market research agency Gartner Inc. In the second quarter of this year, Nokia’s overall mobile phone market share dropped from 30.3% in the same period last year to 22.8%.

For the cell phone giant from Santa Claus' hometown, the upcoming first Windows Phone product may be the bottom of the box.

Jo Harlow, executive vice president of Nokia’s smart terminal business, disclosed to the reporter of the “First Financial Daily” in August this year that when the company faces a crossroads in strategy, Nokia and Microsoft and Google’s possibilities for cooperation on various platforms are carried out. In-depth discussion.

Sadly but inevitably Nokia said that after the closure of the Romanian Cluj plant that began production in 2008, it will affect 2,200 employees.

In addition, the company will cut another 1,300 people at other factories, including the production of mobile maps. At the same time, Nokia will also reorganize its business landscape to assess the prospects of its mobile phone factories in Finland, Hungary and Mexico.



"Nokia plans to close its factory in Cluj by the end of 2011," the company's statement said. "We plan to close the positioning and commercial development business in Bern, Germany, and Malvern, USA by the end of next year."

What Santa gave is not a catfish.

In fact, in April this year, Nokia announced a cost reduction plan of 1 billion euros (about 1.36 billion U.S. dollars), including the reduction of 7,000 people, and the transfer of Nokia's 3,000 employees in China, Finland, India, the United Kingdom and the United States to the world. The second largest technology consulting company, Accenture, cut 4,000 people mainly in the R&D department.

The layoff announced yesterday was part of the above plan.

"We must bear the necessary pain and make our employees, operations consistent with our direction." Elop said.

"(Nokia)'s downsizing of its manufacturing business is sad but inevitable." An analyst at CCS Insight, a market investment research firm, believes, "But it is clear that Elop is not afraid to make a difficult decision to guarantee Nokia's long-term survival."

Nokia stated in its statement that the company hopes to focus its handset manufacturing facilities on the best locations that are close to suppliers and key markets.

Some analysts have interpreted this statement as a sign that Nokia is transferring mobile phone manufacturing to Asia.

Nokia has a total of 10 mobile phone factories, of which smart phones are manufactured at three factories in Finland, China and South Korea, a British factory producing luxury models Vertu, and low-end mobile phones are produced in Brazil, Mexico, Romania, Hungary and India.

Elop said in a statement that Asian factories provide greater scale and geographical convenience, but the company will be committed to R & D in Europe.

"If you consider where the market is, Asia is the growth market." Analysts at the Pohjola Bank in Finland believe that.

It is only a matter of moments for Nokia.

Nokia’s second-quarter earnings report in July showed that the company’s net loss was 368 million euros (approximately 521 million US dollars) and net sales fell by 7% to 9.3 billion euros.

Understand that Nokia achieved a net profit of 227 million euros (approximately 323 million U.S. dollars) in the same period last year, which is the first time Nokia has suffered a quarterly loss in one and a half years.

At the same time, Nokia really fell to the top spot in smartphone share in the second quarter.

According to the financial report, Nokia's smart device shipments fell 34% year-on-year to 16.7 million units, while Apple's iPhone alone shipped 20.3 million units in the second quarter.

"Break" Nokia, there is Android.

According to the latest data from research company Canalys, in the second quarter of this year, smart phone shipments of Google's Android platform increased by 379%, accounting for 48% of the global market share. Apple's iPhone share was 19%, and Nokia ranked third.

Nokia has already tasted the bitterness of "out."

Ten days ago, the listed company was stripped out of the Stoxx 50 index because of the sharp drop in market value.

Nokia is listed in many locations in Helsinki and New York.

This year, Nokia's share price has fallen by almost half, and on the 29th, European stocks fell 1.7% in the morning, but rose 1% in intraday trading.

As of press time last night, Nokia's stock price quoted on the NYSE rose 2.88% to $5.71. However, you should know that on the first trading day in September 2010, Nokia's share price was still above $9.25.

In one year, Nokia’s market value “evaporated” more than $13.4 billion.

Save the straw Nokia is not the only way to go now?

of course not.

If Nokia also launched an Android phone, is there a market?

Probably.

I believe there will be a lot of Nokia fans will continue to choose Nokia, after all, the reason they give up Nokia is because: Symbian operating system is too difficult to use.

It is conceivable that if Nokia launched Android terminals, at least in terms of shipments, market share and revenue will be some improvement, but Nokia is like a proud European nobles, refused to follow suit.

As early as 2008, this reporter participated in the Nokia World conference, Android has just emerged, when the then executive vice president, smart phone business manager Anjoan (Anssi Vanjoki) told reporters that although Android is a free platform, but Nokia does not believe that Google will always be free, and it is a big risk to develop an Android device before it is in doubt.

However, Nokia not only underestimated the iPhone's energy, but also underestimated the power of Android.

Until the embattled, Elop took office last year, the evaluation of Android was formally put on the agenda.

Although Nokia can also choose to produce Microsoft's Windows Phone and Google's Android phone at the same time, with a focus on future competitiveness and a focus on short-term financial performance, it has not done so. Harlow explained that Nokia thinks this will distract Nokia's resources and energy.

For the same reason, Nokia's N9 product based on the Meego platform, although widely praised by all parties, still decided to terminate the investment in the development of the Meego platform. N9 became Nokia's "only son" based on the Meego platform.

The skinny camel is better than Martha, and Nokia has not yet reached the final juncture.

Although the Finnish giant is no longer the world’s largest smartphone manufacturer, it is still the world’s largest mobile phone manufacturer.

And the patents that have been accumulated for many years have also begun to show their economic benefits. According to an agreement reached between Nokia and Apple on patent disputes, Apple will pay for Nokia patents for iPhone. According to analysts' optimistic estimates, Nokia will receive approximately $1 billion in returns.

But this can only represent Nokia's brilliant past, the success or failure of smart phones can determine the future of Nokia.

According to Nokia's plan, Symbian users will continue to provide support, but the future of smart phones will use Windows Phone as the only development platform, coupled with a large number of layoffs, outsourcing Symbian platform development and other initiatives, Windows Phone has become Nokia The "life-saving straw."

According to Nokia's plan, Nokia plans to launch the first Windows Phone product before the end of this year, and this is more than a year away from Nokia's announcement in September last year. According to the latest news, Nokia may release this product at the 2011 Nokia World Conference in London in late October this year.

Although some of the Windows Phone products already launched by other brands on the market have achieved a good user reputation and market experience, for other brands, this is just one of the ways to increase product diversity. Once Nokia's Windows Phone is not recognized by consumers, it is conceivable that Nokia will lose hope for the final line of "resurrection."