back to article Reborn Nokia phones biz loses its head

The boss of HMD Global, the company reviving Nokia-branded phones, quit unexpectedly today. In a terse statement, the company said the departure of CEO Arto Nummela was “by mutual arrangement”. But it’s clear the Board didn’t have a replacement lined up: HMD President Florian Seiche takes over as acting CEO. Seiche is the …

  1. JimmyPage Silver badge
    FAIL

    Hard to believe

    that as little as 10 years ago, Nokia were *the* mobile phone company of the world.

    Everything else was an also-ran ... Moto(rola), Sony, Samsung. HTC weren't even in the top 10.

    There has to be a documentary somewhere about what happened.

    1. Your alien overlord - fear me

      Re: Hard to believe

      Sony was Sony Ericsson. And where is Ericsson nowadays? Not even a name on a Chinese clone.

      1. Ginger

        Where are Ericsson?

        Making infrastructure, and quite successfully I'm led to believe.

        1. Kernel

          Re: Where are Ericsson?

          "Making infrastructure, and quite successfully I'm led to believe."

          As is Nokia - who, like Ericsson, don't make phones now days and haven't for some years.

      2. J. R. Hartley

        Re: Hard to believe

        Sony also made mobiles before they jumped into bed with Ericsson. I had one, it was metal with a jog wheel on the side. Also had the sharkfin Ericsson. Aaah good days :)

        P.S. I recently bought two Sony Ericsson T610i units off eBay, just to play the insanely awesome multiplayer minigolf via bluetooth when drunk. Haha.

      3. sal II

        Re: Hard to believe

        > And where is Ericsson nowadays?

        More or less the same place the original Nokia is - milking their extensive portfolio of patents and making some infrastructure stuff

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Hard to believe

      Failure to adapt is a failure. Though there are also companies throwing themselves at crazy "new" ideas instead (I wonder how many VR will kill off?).

      Nokia did well, . It's interesting Motorola are still around, considering their Razor line was popular, but IMO seems a flash in the pan compared to Apple or Nokia in general. Is it because they were happy with general handsets and small profits? Where as Nokia could not keep the number one spot forever without some form of burnout?

      1. Kernel

        Re: Hard to believe

        "Nokia did well, . It's interesting Motorola are still around,"

        Motorola Mobility, the spin off who make the handsets, were bought by Google in 2011, then sold on to Lenovo back in 2014, so while they're still around it's only for certain values of "still around". Pretty much the same as 'Alcatel' and 'Nokia' cellphones really - made by companies that have acquired the rights to manufacture handsets with someone else's name on it, but are not part of the original brand owner.

        After the split in 2011 the rest of Motorola became Motorola Solutions - except for their cellular infrastructure business which had been bought by Nokia Siemens back in 2010.

        "Where as Nokia could not keep the number one spot forever without some form of burnout?"

        According to Nokia's 2016 accounts, they had net sales of 23.6 billion Euro in 2016 - is this some new definition of burning out? If so, where do I apply?

    3. StripeyMiata

      Re: Hard to believe

      No movie, but I can recommend this book - http://amzn.to/2vm3Xns

      And there is a good one about BlackBerry as well - http://amzn.to/2vlRznr

  2. EddieD

    All the same..

    All phones now look alike, no individuality, no stand out features, nothing.

    1. wyatt

      Re: All the same..

      They do don't they? Once upon a time it was the camera, they're pretty standard now. I suppose it depends on who you're marketing the phone for what you'd push. Niche markets aren't profitable. No market is even less profitable!

      1. The humble print monkey

        Re: All the same.. Red Hydrogen

        Looks like it'll be very very different.

        Camera - different

        Screen - different

        Storage - huge

        Batteries - changeable

        Expensive - yep

        Not out yet, but Red don't seem to do average or vapour ware.

        And a phone with heat sinks.

    2. nijam Silver badge

      Re: All the same..

      > All phones now look alike, no individuality, no stand out features,...

      So?

  3. James 51

    I'd buy a nokia 100 that support 4g. My three sim doesn't work with the 100 I have.

  4. aidanstevens

    Still waiting for a decent smartphone that you can actually hold and use with one hand.... I know Apple released the iPhone SE but that's Apple so doesn't count. I fear for the day my LG L40 packs up, but it would appear to be indestructible.

    1. billdehaan

      Re: You want cold? I'll give you cold

      There are a number of small, one-handable phones. They just aren't sold by carriers.

      Check out the Samsung Mini line. They're on Amazon. Some decent (not flagship) phones in the 4" to 4.5" size.

  5. Your alien overlord - fear me

    Won't they even release sales figures of the 3310 to see if the hype was matched with actual sales?

    1. werdsmith Silver badge

      3310 is hamstrung by being a 2G phone. I think when a 3G/4G 3310i comes out that will not be soon obsolete, they will sell a lot more.

      1. jelabarre59

        3310 is hamstrung by being a 2G phone.

        How is that a problem? If you don't intend on using mobile data, even 0G is acceptable. If it's an Android-based unit, all it needs is WiFi and halfway decent syncanble, offline-capable apps. Oh, wait, offline-capable apps are verbotten in this day and age.

        1. werdsmith Silver badge

          It's a problem if 2G networks are being phased out.

          Or if you are a customer of Three in the UK.

  6. Deej

    May not be as bad as it sounds

    According to this article, their smartphones may be doing OK... I'm waiting for the Nokia 6 to become available in the UK and I'll probably buy one to replace my decrepid Moto G...

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Boffin

    Putting Nokia sales into perspective.

    I have seen more Tesla's than I have new Nokias.

    1. getHandle

      Re: Putting Nokia sales into perspective.

      To be fair, Teslas are a little easier to spot...

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Putting Nokia sales into perspective.

        Perhaps, but I have only seen one; and that was today when the show off parked it in a 30 minute parking bay for the afternoon (and 1/2 the morning as well), right outside my shop.

  8. Bad Beaver

    Maybe there were even MORE delays

    It feels just like the old days, Nokia announcing in Q1 what to expect in Q3 :D

    Anyway, I preordered a Nokia 5 that supposedly arrives this week. Cant wait to boot it upadadadaaaaa!

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    10 days before the first new real nokia phones hit the market.

    Sorry, but why did you think we wanted clones of everybody else's phones?

  10. Adam 1

    possible market for them

    If they want an easy market, try a mid sized mid range spec with....

    actually, just grab a Nexus 5 and put a replaceable battery and micro SD card in it, stick the Nokia logo on it, then head to the pub as your r&d is done

  11. Dan McIntyre

    I've pre-ordered a 3310 from Amazon. Expected delivery is first week in August. Retro baby!

  12. Arthur2sheds

    Oh for those days when you didn't have to continuously charge your cell phone

    Today's phones may be smart but not clever enough to keep their charge for a couple of weeks of continual use. SWMBO (She Who Must Be Obeyed) mourns the death of the robust, simple, classic, mobile phones of yesteryear, such as the 3110 and 6120.

    To answer an earlier question, part of Nokia's downfall (IMVHO) was due to leaders of their 3 internal divisions (hardware, software and development, I think but don't quote me!) just couldn't agree on a united front. Some might say fiefdoms and kingdom building. Caving in to a Microsoft buyout was the final nail. To give Nokia their due, their R&D was second to none!

    1. JimmyPage Silver badge
      Thumb Up

      Re: Oh for those days when you didn't have to continuously charge your cell phone

      As a tech watcher, I'm flagging battery life as the Next Big Thing.

      Smartphone tech is pretty much stalled (I've had mine for 18 months with no pressure to change).

      Smartphone *application* is increasing daily.

      The more we find we can do with our smartphones, the less we can afford to have them run out of charge.

      I am still tipping the idea of someone offering a matched set of phones (think about a matched set of pistols) where you simply take the "hot" one out of the charger while the other charges, but they're mirrored, so no downtime.

      The other push I am calling is accessibility. Those ageing techheads are still going to want to use their iShiny well into their 60s, 70s and beyond.

  13. SiempreTuna

    Why Nokia died?

    Simple: they hung on to their utterly obsolete Symbian o/s just long enough to destroy their sales and their credibility then - unbelievably - jumped into bed Microsoft and adopted the next-worst phone OS, Windows (if you think it's pants now you shoulda seen it then).

    If they'd bitten the bullet and gone Android within a year of the iPhone coming out, they'd still be right up there, but they couldn't come to terms with the fact the phone o/s world had left them behind and they were never going to be able to control it again.

  14. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    What's happening to Sailfish?

    I want to put it onto my brand new Huawei and remove Android and deGoogle it and make it controllable/logical/smooooth.

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