HMD Global, the Finnish company that has licensing rights to Nokia’s mobile phone brand, is planning to move some manufacturing to Europe. The move will be designed to meet a “surge in customer demand” for locally-produced devices, the company says.
In recent years, Nokia has re-energized its feature phones with products like the 3310 and 8110 “banana phone.” But it has also invested heavily in smartphones. It has brought several dozen Nokia phones to market, from low-end basic handsets to top-of-the-line flagships with multiple Zeiss cameras.
Finnish company says it’s developing 5G smartphone production capabilities
The Finnish company has a long history of exploring multiple lines of business, but its current incarnation is focused on mobile phones. It’s a multifaceted company that has gone through several transformations in its history, including a series of reorganizations that aimed to reposition the company to be more agile and take advantage of market opportunities.
In the late 1990s, Nokia was developing a new product line that would change the way people used their mobile devices. These devices would be called Communicators, and they would be designed to provide an interface that was similar to a personal computer, with various applications and support for a wide variety of networking standards. The goal was to create a pocketable device that could compete with Apple’s Newton and IBM’s Simon Personal Communicator, which both failed in the market due to their high price and being ahead of their time.
This product line was supposed to be a way for Nokia to take advantage of the growing market for data-enabled phones, which were becoming more popular with both consumers and business customers. However, Nokia struggled to implement its plan because of several issues, which eventually boiled down to a lack of coordination between different business units and the resulting infighting.
One of these issues was logistics. Nokia’s manufacturing plants were spread across the world, but there was no way for production managers to track their activity in real-time. This meant that they didn’t have a clear picture of how much stock they had in inventory and how many phones they needed to produce.
To solve this problem, Frank McGovern, who was the head of Nokia at the time, decided to work with a vendor to create an ERP system that would allow managers to track their activities on a global scale. He picked SAP, who built a system that would provide Nokia with a comprehensive view of its logistics activities in real-time.
The new system also allowed production managers to track the entire sales cycle for every phone they manufactured, which was a huge improvement over the old system. By the end of 2007, Nokia was selling its billionth phone, and it had surpassed 50 percent of global market share.
It’s not a full shift
Nokia phonemaker HMD Global announced on Saturday it will begin moving some manufacturing to Europe, a move that is not a full shift away from Asia. Rather, the company will focus on developing and testing capabilities to produce smartphones for 5G networks.
For Nokia, that meant iterating quickly on data-enabled phones to stay ahead of the curve and attract new customers. It also means working closely with carriers on mobile services and custom co-branded devices.
At the time, however, it was unclear how Nokia would compete with Apple and Google, which were both rapidly introducing more innovative smartphone offerings to the market. That left CEO Stephen Elop with a tough decision.
The former MeeGo developer was hesitant to make the switch to Windows Phone, which was largely unpopular with consumers, but he knew it was the right move for the company at that point. At the same time, he wanted to avoid becoming a mere hardware supplier.
That’s why he set out to build a new business model. He aimed to create phones that could last a long time, have long-lasting battery life and affordable prices.
But he had to keep it real, too. He realized that Android and iOS were growing larger than MeeGo and Symbian, which had once been Nokia’s most popular operating system.
To address that, he hired a number of engineers who were familiar with MeeGo and the Symbian platform. This team helped him refocus on the development of the Nokia N95, a phone that would become a classic among fans.
Its unique form factor would see a sliding screen that revealed a speaker array and dual selfie cameras, and it was one of the first phones to feature an LED flash. But it was a model that was never sold enough to justify the investment, and it’s a lesson that Nokia learned the hard way.
The N95 was an important step in the evolution of Nokia as a company, and it showed that it was not afraid to try new things in the mobile space. But the N95’s polarizing design ultimately proved costly, and it would eventually lead to Nokia abandoning the N-Gage in favor of more mainstream designs.
It’s a way to attract new customers
In a move to attract new customers, the Finnish phonemaker HMD Global has announced it will start to produce some Nokia phones in Europe. This is the first time a major smartphone company has moved manufacturing to Europe.
The move is a way to meet the “surge in customer demand” for locally produced devices, according to the company’s CEO. It’s also a way to reduce the business’ carbon footprint and ensure security for its products.
It’s not a full shift, however, as the company will continue to use contract manufacturers in Asia for some production of its flagship devices. This move will only be a small part of its overall production strategy, which includes a number of other initiatives to improve its sustainability.
For starters, the company said it’s developing 5G smartphone production capabilities to bring them to Europe in 2023. In addition, it will be collaborating with IT security partners to complete software upgrades and testing.
Another reason for this move is to better serve customers who are based in Europe. The company has been expanding its customer base in the region and is seeing a growing need for locally-produced smartphones, according to HMD Global CEO Lars Silberbauer.
In a recent interview with TechCrunch, he explained that this isn’t just a one-time thing. It’s part of a long-term strategy to develop manufacturing facilities in Europe.
He says this is in response to a number of factors, including increased security and localization needs for European customers. In addition, it’s a way to increase the company’s reputation in the region and promote its sustainability.
The announcement comes on the same day that HMD Global unveiled three affordable devices, all with longer battery life and a focus on repairability. It will also begin to offer its devices for sale through iFixit.
The company relaunched the Nokia brand in 2016 after Microsoft scuttled its acquisition of the device business. In the process, it wiped $7 billion off its bottom line. Today, HMD Global is the only licensed manufacturer of Nokia-branded devices outside of Japan. It uses the remaining phone patents held by Nokia and production facilities of Foxconn to build its smartphones.
It’s not a big deal
HMD Global is a Finnish company that holds the license to produce and sell Nokia-branded phones and accessories. It’s a start-up that emerged from the ashes of Microsoft’s ill-fated acquisition of the company’s device business in 2013.
In 2016, HMD Global acquired a number of key patents and featurephone software from Nokia. Its current portfolio includes the Nokia 3 and 5 smartphones and a re-imagination of the classic Nokia 3310 feature phone.
While many smartphone manufacturers have moved their manufacturing to Asia in order to cut costs, HMD Global is bringing some of its production back to Europe. It says it’s doing this because it’s seeing increased demand for its phones in Europe and wants to be able to deliver them faster and more efficiently.
But the move isn’t a full shift, nor does it represent a significant change in the way that it operates. Instead, it’s a way to bring a Nokia-branded phone closer to its customers and help ensure the device’s security and privacy.
The Finnish company is also hoping to make its devices more eco-friendly by using repairable parts, which can be swapped out with minimal tools or time. It has partnered with DIY repair focused iFixit to develop a new range of repairable Nokia devices that will feature a battery that can be replaced in under five minutes, and a display that can be removed and swapped in under 20 minutes.
In addition, the company has committed to offering consumers a long-term experience that gets better over time. This means allowing users to upgrade the operating system two years after release, removing any bloatware and adding security patches as needed.
However, the biggest reason that HMD Global is bringing its smartphone manufacturing back to Europe is because it’s a good way to promote sustainability. As a result, the company is looking to expand its network of climate-conscious partners across the globe.
While it may not seem like a big deal for the company, it’s a sign of a growing concern for consumers around the world. With a lack of choice, it’s become increasingly difficult for users to find a high-quality Android smartphone that doesn’t break the bank.
