Nokia, the world’s largest mobile phone maker, said Friday it was slashing jobs and joining forces with US giant Microsoft in a major strategy shake-up that left investors disappointed.
In an effort to radically change course and fight off encroaching competition from RIM, Apple and Google, CEO Stephen Elop said Windows Phone would now serve as the company’s primary smartphone platform.
Elop—a former Microsoft executive who in September became the first non-Finn to lead Nokia—also announced changes to Nokia’s executive board and “substantial” job cuts.
“Nokia is at a critical juncture, where significant change is necessary and inevitable in our journey forward,” Elop said. “There will be substantial reductions in employment in various locations around the world,” he told a press briefing in London, without giving further details.
The announcements were met with sharp disappointment on the stock market, with investors expecting more and in more detail than they got. Nokia tumbled more than 9% and the Helsinki Stock Exchange was down 0.56% The biggest change by far for Nokia is its tacit admission that its Symbian operating platform has failed to become competitive, illustrated by its bold move to take on Microsoft’s mobile platform for its smartphones.
“I think there was a recognition that for something to effectively compete and ultimately win against Android and iPhone, it would require some big muscle,” Elop said at a joint news conference with Microsoft CEO Steven Ballmer .
The choice to adopt Microsoft Phone is a controversial one as the platform has also not done so well against Google’s Android or the iPhone. Espirito Santo Investment Bank said the Windows’ operating system had “failed to gain traction” and that a partnership with Google would have been a better choice.
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