Nokia to cut thousands of jobs, Google reminds it is hiring

http://www.techspot.com/news/42379-nokia-to-cut-thousands-of-jobs-google-reminds-it-is-hiring.html

by ainsleyb • 15 years ago

49 16 15 years ago

techspot.com

tommi• 15 years ago

Positions available in Finland:

Engineering Operations & Management (7)

Enterprise (5)

Marketing and Communications (1)

Sales (6)

Hardly work for the thousands.

stcredzero4• 15 years ago

Realistically, Google or any smart competitor just wants the top 20% or so of the disaffected Nokia employees.

trezor• 15 years ago

Google still running its PR-stunt after having its OS rejected.

But hey, it's Google so lets completely ignore that and give them credit like we wouldn't give any other company!

l0nwlf• 15 years ago

Alas, the better of the OS was rejected.

jarek2• 15 years ago

Define "better."

stcredzero4• 15 years ago

Since Nokia's dropped the ball, Google should poach Nokia employees and go for an end-run around Apple, Microsoft, and the rest of the competition in the 3rd world.

Find a way to deliver rich services and develop a healthy developer ecosystem on dumb phones. (feature phones) Right now, people in developing countries are using services like banking over SMS the way we now use web apps and smartphone apps. This tells me there's latent demand.

By blurring the line between smart phones and feature phones, you can entirely undercut the smart phones. Get in there first, with less capable but cheaper phones people can actually afford, with services delivered more comfortably than SMS and with more cultural sensitivity than the usual outside company. As Moore's law continues to make processing power cheaper, the line between smart phones and dumb ones will blur, while at the same time, the citizens of the developing nations will become more affluent. Such a "blur phone" product and ecosystem will have already undercut the smartphones before they're even as real as a pipe dream and will have entrenched power of a network effect.

ZeroGravitas• 15 years ago

Google already has this plan in motion, with no need for Nokia or ex-Nokia employees. It's not really a big secret either as Schmidt is always going on about getting the next billion online.

Part of the reason Nokia is hurting is that they have been severely disrupted at the low-end. The dumphone became an absolute commodity. Elop specifically name-checked MediaTek in his burning platforms memo as the designer of the standardized innards for these no-name, white-box manufacturers:

"Let’s not forget about the low-end price range. In 2008, MediaTek supplied complete reference designs for phone chipsets, which enabled manufacturers in the Shenzhen region of China to produce phones at an unbelievable pace. By some accounts, this ecosystem now produces more than one third of the phones sold globally - taking share from us in emerging markets."

Guess what MediaTek are now selling? That's right, the same thing but for Android. Here's there PR for the latest version:

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/mwc2011-mediatek-ann...

"MediaTek is launching the MT6573 platform to address the accelerating demand for smartphones with features that can delight users at price points that meet the needs of operators in developed markets and consumers in emerging markets."

stcredzero4• 15 years ago

Part of the reason Nokia is hurting is that they have been severely disrupted at the low-end. The dumphone became an absolute commodity.

Yes. This is why they need to get out of the dumbphone business. This is precisely why having their own software ecosystem is attractive.

They should take a play from Apple's playbook -- create your own product category. Instead of taking on Apple, Blackberry, Android directly, they should undercut them. Produce something which can run on cheaper hardware than iOS, WP7, or Android, and market these to provide better interfaces for developing world services now running over SMS. Do this with a software ecosystem, so that the telcos can't strangle the real software market.

Someone should take another play from Apple's playbook -- don't compete with low-cost producers overseas. Instead, position yourself higher up on the value food-chain. Note that Apple used to produce hardware domestically. Apple does the design and farms out the production to folks like Foxconn overseas. This way, instead of enemies, you gain highly capable partners instead.

teyc• 15 years ago

Nokia should do a Burberry. It's a brand which as pedigree and could have set itself apart as the mass-luxury brand for the aspirational class. The engineering is solid, and will not have the same reputation of the low end manufacturers. Overall, people will move on from their cheapo phones onto something more middle class. An European brand could do the job.

pmoehring• 15 years ago

There are no real details about how many jobs will be cut, or where.

The quote "20.000 is a pretty significant number in Finland" seems to be related to the total number of Nokia jobs in Finland, not the amount to be cut. I think it's safe to say that the majority of jobs will be cut elsewhere, since Nokia will do all but severe any relationships with the government that has treated them very well.

Now as for Google's announcement - easy, right? Just a short notice and piggybacking for some PR. They are pissed for obvious reasons, so it's an understandable move (although their reactions were remarkably snark).

Overall, pretty sensationalist reporting, which is even more obvious when seeing how the writer dances along the fine line of using big numbers without clear language.

Nokia to cut thousands of jobs, Google reminds it is hiring

Related Stories