Nokia Corporation is a Finnish global telecommunications company whose main businesses are network infrastructure, technology development and licensing.
In the mobile phone market, Nokia’s position began to crumble with the advent of the 2010s with Android and Apple . Nokia introduced the Windows Phone operating system on its smartphones, supported by Microsoft , but it quickly became clear that Nokia would not be able to save the company with its Windows Phone strategy. Finally, Microsoft decided to acquire its mobile phone business from Nokia in September 2013. After exiting mobile phones, Nokia decided to focus on its networking business and acquired its competitor Alcatel-Lucent in an acquisition of approximately EUR 16 billion in 2015. Nokia had previously acquired Siemens‘ stake in these joint ventures Nokia Siemens Networksnetwork company.
Business
In 2018, Nokia’s online business consisted of six business groups:
- Mobile Networks
- Fixed Networks
- IP / Optical Networks
- Nokia Software
- Global Services
- Nokia Enterprise
In addition to its online business, Nokia also had a seventh business group: Nokia Technologies , which focuses on future technologies and licensing , through which the company has, among other things, licensed the exclusive use of the Nokia trademark to HMD Global on its phones and tablets. Nokia Technologies also manages Nokia’s large patent portfolio, which had approximately 30,000 patents prior to the acquisition of Alcatel-Lucent, and the acquisition resulted in approximately 38,000 additional patents. Nokia still has thousands of patents for mobile phone times, and companies that make mobile phones have to pay license fees for them. Nokia has extensive licensing agreements with Apple, Xiaom and Huawei , among others .
Nokia’s research and development unit operates under the name Nokia Bell Labs .Bell Labs transferred to Nokia with the Alcatel-Lucent acquisition in 2015. Researchers in the research unit have been awarded seven Nobel Prizes in Physics throughout its history . In 2014, Bell Labs received its first Nobel Prize in Chemistry . Probably the best known of Bell Labs‘ inventions is the laser .
