Nokia is a mobile phone brand that was once the most successful in the world. Until finally the killers arrived.
Nokia is now still exist, controlled by HMD Global and its performance is quite good. However, the shadows of past glory still follow him everywhere. Moreover, the generation of the early 1990-2000s, really felt Nokia's glory in the world.
Compiled by us from various sources, Saturday (23/4/2022) this is the historical story of Nokia which was slowly killed in the war of competition for mobile phones:
1. Nokia's golden moment
The decade of the 1990s was Nokia's moment to reach the pinnacle of success, overtaking Motorola. In 1998, Nokia introduced the Nokia 8810, the first mobile phone without an external antenna. Yes, at that time all cellphones still used antennas, you know. In 1999, the Nokia 3210 was born and sold 160 million units worldwide, followed by the Nokia 3310 cell phone.
In the early 2000s, Nokia remained unwavering. One of their innovations was the Nokia 7650, a sophisticated mobile phone at that time with a built in camera. In 2003, the Nokia 1100 was launched which later became the best-selling handset of all time, selling 250 million units. That's where the nickname HP Million People was born.
There are also many cool breakthroughs that Nokia made in its heyday. For example, the Nokia 9000 Communicator, the sultan's HP in its time and the Nokia 8110 which is called the banana Nokia because of its shape.
At the height of its glory, Nokia controlled 40% of all mobile phones circulating around the world. In Indonesia, this brand used to be very dominant. Nokia became the most famous Finnish brand and made the country's economy prosperous.
At that time, Nokia seemed unstoppable anymore. However, the threat came unexpectedly.
2. The presence of the Nokia killers
In 2007, Apple launched the first generation iPhone. In 2008, the Android system began to appear in the world. Blackberry, which has been around since 2000, achieved global success with the BlackBerry 8520 Gemini in 2009.
These three things can be regarded as the killers of Nokia. In 2008, bad signs began to appear. Nokia's profit fell by 30%, while on the other hand iPhone sales rose 330%. In 2009, Nokia even laid off 1,700 employees worldwide.
Android is slowly getting bigger, supported by big manufacturers like Samsung, HTC and LG. BlackBerry also managed to create a strong consumer base with the advantages of the BlackBerry Messenger messaging application. Everyone was crazy about BlackBerry back then.
Nokia is not not fighting back. They gave birth to a number of products to fight the competition. One of the most successful is the Nokia 5800 Xpress Music. However, despite selling 8 million units, the touch screen experience is not satisfactory.
Nokia also changed management. In September 2010, former Microsoft executive Stephen Elop became CEO of Nokia with a very heavy mission, namely resurrecting Nokia. He turned off Symbian and chose to use the Windows Phone OS in the Nokia smartphone line.
But the steps are questionable, why not use the Android OS which is increasingly popular at that time. But Elop is adamant, because he wants Lumia 920 integration with Windows PC or Xbox. If switching to Android, according to him Nokia is too late with the others. As a result, Nokia is getting worse.
Nokia is still unable to do much even though it has adopted Windows Phone and is trying to stay innovative in its new line of phones. Finally, Nokia was bought by Microsoft at the end of 2014 at a relatively low price, in the range of USD 7 billion.
It's a pretty tragic ending for the former king of the mobile world. Even under Microsoft, Nokia is struggling. In the end, the mobile division and the Nokia brand at Microsoft were shut down.
Until finally, HMD Global held the Nokia license and resumed selling the brand's phones. Currently, their performance is quite decent. Nokia now comes fully with Android.
The story of Nokia is a lesson in the world of technology. No matter how great a company is, technology is always evolving and actors are required to adapt quickly. Because new players with better innovations can beat even giants.