When Nokia agreed to get into bed with Microsoft many raised an eye-brow; was this the last throw of the dice for the Finnish phone company?
Well today the company announced that the will engage in a major restructuring which will see them cut 4,000 jobs worldwide.
The firm said the 4,000 jobs would be cut by 2012 – including a total of 700 jobs from Nokia’s UK sites.
Nokia has been really struggling for many years and has found itself falling behind Apple, Android and HTC in the extremely competitive smartphone market.
Nokia will also transfer a further 3,000 employees to outsourcing and consultancy group Accenture, which will take over Nokia’s Symbian software product.
Nokia is hoping to increase its capacity for smartphone development, which will probably mean that they will throw everything into their new partnership with Microsoft.
Under the terms of that deal with Microsoft and its newly launch Windows Phone 7, Nokia agreed to start using the Microsoft’s operating system on its smartphones instead of its own Symbian platform.
“With this new focus, we also will face reductions in our workforce,” said Stephen Elop, Nokia president.
“This is a difficult reality, and we are working closely with our employees and partners to identify long-term re-employment programmes for the talented people of Nokia.”
Nokia’s response to the smartphone threat from competitors such as Apple’s iPhone and phones using Google’s Android system has been long been a key investor concern.
But with a intelligent restructuring this could make or break time the mobile phone producer, factor in Microsoft’s massive push to market with their own operating system, it does represent the best opportunity for Nokia to survive, but it won’t be like the old days of the 511o and their previous market dominance.