Nokia started out as a Finnish Company in 1865. Prior to electronics they were a Pulp Mill and later transitioned into the rubber products. In 1902, they dabbled with electricity production on top of their other ventures. In 1912, they became involved with telephone, telegraph and electrical cables. The company did not become involved with the production of electronics until the 1960's. In the early 1980's, they became involved in creating portable radio telephones that worked with the Nordic Mobile Telephone Network.
The 2000's were a time where Nokia dominated the cellular market. They produced both budget friendly cellphones as well as advanced phones with multimedia capability. They were famous for launching the first phone with a camera, the Nokia 7650. The first phone capable of 3G networking was the 6650. To compete with the IPhone, the launched touchscreen based phones in 2008 starting with the 5800 Xpress Music.
Nokia's market dominance started to decline with the introductions of the Android operating system in 2008. They started laying off thousands of their employees in 2009 since the market was being taken over by Blackberry, Apple, LG, HTC and Samsung. Nokia's situation continued to worsen and they tried to remedy it by partnering with Microsoft to help launch their mobile operating system in 2011.
The Lumia 800 and Lumia 710 smartphones were launched towards the end of 2011. Even though the phones were relatively successful and sold millions of units, Nokia continued to lay off employees. They also had to close manufacturing in Finland and move to by 2012. The Lumia 920 had some success in the UK but did not live up to their sales expectations. Around this time, Nokia's total market share had fallen to 3.5%.
In 2013, Microsoft announced that they have bought Nokia's Devices and Services department. Microsoft had taken over all of Nokia's operations except for their manufacturing in India and South Korea.
There may a glimmer of hope now that Nokia has announced their new android based mobile phones and tablets for the rest of 2016 and 2017. Their CEO, Rajeev Suri, will be making their announcement discussing their future at Mobile World Congress 2017.
The Chinese FIH Mobile, which is a direct partner of Nokia, had bought out the production facility of Microsoft in Vietnam. The plant in Bac Ninh will be expected to churn out Nokia's new line of mobile phones and tablets.
HMD global(Nokia) has acquired rights from Microsoft to once again use the Nokia name to brand a new line of mobile phone. The previous contract with Microsoft expired this year, so they have the full rights to return to the market as Nokia.
Here are the specs of the new Nokia Duo leaked by GizmoChina:
- 5.5 and 5.2 inch screens
- Snapdragon 820 chipset
- IP68 Waterproof and Dustproof protection (similar to Galaxy S7)
- 22.6MP Camera
- 2K resolution display
- All-metal body
- $500 price-tag