Nokia facts for kids
Logo used since 2023
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Headquarters in Espoo since September 2019
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Native name
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Nokia Oyj
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| ISIN | ISIN: [https://isin.toolforge.org/?language=en&isin=FI0009000681 FI0009000681] |
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| Founded | 12 May 1865 in Tampere, Grand Duchy of Finland |
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Finland
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Area served
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Worldwide |
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Key people
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| Products | List of Nokia products |
| Revenue |  €22.26 billion (2023) |
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Operating income
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€1.688 billion (2023) |
| €679 million (2023) |
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| Total assets | €39.86 billion (2023) |
| Total equity | €20.63 billion (2023) |
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Number of employees
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86,689 (2023) |
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Nokia Corporation, often just called Nokia, is a big company from Finland. It started way back in 1865! Today, Nokia is known for its work in telecommunications, technology, and consumer electronics. Its main offices are in Espoo, Finland.
For a long time, Nokia was famous for making mobile phones. From 1998 to 2008, it was the biggest seller of mobile phones and smartphones worldwide! But then, things changed, and Nokia faced some challenges. In 2014, Microsoft bought Nokia's mobile phone business.
After that, Nokia focused more on building big telecommunications networks and developing new technologies. The Nokia brand returned to phones in 2016 through a company called HMD Global. Today, Nokia is one of the top companies that make network equipment for phones and the internet. It's also a major company that licenses its patents (inventions) to other phone makers.
Nokia has always been a source of pride for Finns. At its best in 2000, Nokia made up 4% of Finland's entire economy!
How Nokia Started and Grew
Early Days: From Paper to Rubber
Nokia's story began in 1865. A mining engineer named Fredrik Idestam started a pulp mill (a factory that makes paper pulp) in Tampere, Finland. A few years later, he opened another mill near a town called Nokia. In 1871, Idestam and his friend Leo Mechelin created a company called Nokia Ab.
Later, in 1904, a rubber company called Suomen Gummitehdas (Finnish Rubber Works), started by Eduard Polón, opened a factory near the town of Nokia. This company made things like rubber boots and tires.
Merging and Expanding into Electronics
In 1922, Nokia Ab, Finnish Rubber Works, and a company called Kaapelitehdas (the Cable Factory) all joined together. They were all led by Eduard Polón. The rubber and cable companies grew fast. Nokia even made respirators (gas masks) for many years!
In 1967, these three companies officially merged to form the new Nokia Corporation. It had four main parts: forestry (paper), cables, rubber, and electronics. In the 1970s, Nokia started getting into networks and radio. They even made military equipment for Finland's army!
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The Rise of Mobile Phones
In the 1980s, Nokia bought a company called Mobira, which made mobile radio telephones. This was the start of Nokia's famous mobile phone business! In 1981, Mobira launched the first international cellular network, which allowed people to use their phones in different countries.
In 1982, Nokia launched its first mobile phone, the Mobira Senator car phone. It was huge and heavy, weighing about 9.8 kg (22 lb)! At first, some people at Nokia thought mobile phones were just fancy gadgets, like something out of a James Bond movie.
Focusing on Telecoms
In the early 1990s, Nokia went through some tough times. They sold off parts of the company, like their computer division. In 1992, Jorma Ollila became the new CEO. He decided that Nokia should focus only on telecom (communication technology). This was a very smart move!
Nokia helped create the GSM mobile standard, which is still used today. The first ever GSM call was made in 1991 using Nokia equipment. In 1992, the Nokia 1011 was released, which was the first widely available GSM mobile phone.
Nokia Becomes a Mobile Phone Giant
By October 1998, Nokia became the best-selling mobile phone brand in the world! They made phones that were popular with young people and those who liked fashion, like the Nokia 5110 and 3210. These phones had cool, colorful, changeable covers.
Nokia also made phones with cameras, like the Nokia 7650, which was one of the first camera phones. They partnered with Carl Zeiss AG for camera lenses. The Nseries phones, like the Nokia N95, were very popular for their cameras and features.
Nokia was also a pioneer in mobile gaming with the super popular Snake game on many of its phones. In 2002, they tried to make a gaming device called the N-Gage, but it wasn't as successful as Nintendo's Game Boy.
By 2008, Nokia's share of the global mobile phone market reached its highest point at 38.6 percent!
Challenges and Changes
In the late 2000s, new smartphones like the iPhone and phones using Android started to become very popular. Nokia's own operating system, Symbian, began to seem old-fashioned.
In 2010, Stephen Elop became Nokia's CEO. He made a big decision in 2011: Nokia would stop focusing on Symbian and instead use Windows Phone 7 as its main operating system for smartphones. This was a huge change, but it didn't help Nokia's sales much.
Selling the Phone Business
In September 2013, Nokia announced that it would sell its mobile phone business to Microsoft. This deal was completed in April 2014. After the sale, Nokia focused on its network equipment business, which was still doing well.
Nokia Today: Networks and New Tech
After selling its phone business, Nokia focused on Nokia Networks, which builds equipment for phone networks.
Returning to Consumer Products
In 2014, Nokia Technologies, a part of Nokia, announced plans to get back into making consumer electronics. They would license their designs to other companies. In November 2014, they launched the Nokia N1, an Android tablet made by Foxconn.
In 2015, Nokia introduced OZO, a cool 360-degree virtual reality camera for professional filmmakers.
Big Mergers and Acquisitions
In 2015, Nokia made a huge move by buying Alcatel-Lucent, a French telecommunications company. This deal made Nokia a stronger competitor against other big network companies like Ericsson and Huawei. This also brought Bell Labs, a famous research lab, into Nokia.
In 2016, Nokia sold its Here digital maps division to a group of car companies.
Nokia Phones Are Back!
In 2016, the Nokia brand returned to mobile phones! Microsoft Mobile sold its Nokia-branded feature phone business to HMD Global, a new company started by former Nokia executives. Nokia then made a deal with HMD Global to be the only company to make Nokia-branded phones and tablets (outside Japan).
In January 2017, HMD Global launched the Android-based Nokia 6 smartphone. They also brought back a new version of the classic Nokia 3310 feature phone. Nokia itself has some say in how these new devices are developed.
Innovations in 5G and Beyond
Nokia has been a leader in developing 5G technology, which is the next generation of super-fast wireless networks. In 2017, Nokia and Xiaomi signed a deal to work together on technology.
In 2019, a study showed that Nokia phones were much better at getting the latest Android updates compared to many other brands.
In 2020, Nokia won a contract with NASA to build a 4G mobile network on the moon for astronauts!
New Look for Nokia
In February 2023, Nokia changed its logo for the first time in almost 60 years. The new logo was designed to show that Nokia is no longer just about mobile phones, but about many different technologies.
What Nokia Does Now
Nokia is a public company listed on stock exchanges in Helsinki and New York. It's still a very important company for Finland's economy and provides many jobs.
Nokia has two main business groups:
Nokia Networks: Building the Future of Connectivity
Nokia Networks is the biggest part of Nokia. It builds the equipment and systems that make our phone calls, internet, and mobile data work. It's one of the largest telecom equipment makers in the world. They work on all kinds of networks, including GSM, 3G, LTE, and 5G.
This division used to be a joint company with Siemens called Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN). But in 2013, Nokia bought all of Siemens' shares and renamed it Nokia Networks.
Nokia Technologies: New Inventions and Licensing
Nokia Technologies is the part of Nokia that creates new products and licenses the Nokia brand to other companies. They focus on things like imaging (cameras), sensors, wireless connections, and new materials. They also run the "Invent with Nokia" program, where people can share ideas.
This division launched the Nokia N1 tablet and the OZO virtual reality camera.
Nokia Bell Labs: Amazing Research
Nokia Bell Labs is a famous research and development company that became part of Nokia when it bought Alcatel-Lucent in 2016. Bell Labs has invented many important things over the years, like the transistor and the laser! They are now planning a new research center in New Jersey.
Other Nokia Businesses
- NGP Capital: This is Nokia's venture capital firm. It invests in new and growing companies that focus on the "Internet of things" (IoT) and mobile technology.
- Nuage Networks: This group provides software-defined networking solutions, which help manage and automate cloud computing networks for big companies.
- Alcatel Mobile: This is a mobile phone brand owned by Nokia. It's licensed to a Chinese company called TCL to make and sell phones.
- HMD Global: As mentioned, this company makes and sells Nokia-branded Android phones and tablets under a license from Nokia.
- Alcatel Submarine Networks: This business builds and installs huge undersea cables that carry internet and communication signals across the world's oceans.
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Mobira 800-NDB non-directional beacon located in the Finnish Air Force signals museum
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Nokia MAC 8532 laser rangefinder previously used by Finnish coastal artillery
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Hämeenlinna artillery museum display containing fire control officer with Nokia artillery calculator in Finnish artillery battalion command post
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Late 1980s MikroMikko 4 TT m216 desktop computer in the Museum of Technology, Helsinki, Finland
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ITT Nokia television with an ITT Nokia VCR (ITT/SEL)
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A 1986 Mobira pager
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A Nokia Mediamaster set-top box
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A flagship Nokia store in São Paulo, Brazil in 2009
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Nokia 5800 XpressMusic
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A Nokia 9000 Communicator (1996) next to a Nokia E7 Communicator (2011)
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Former Nokia plant in Bochum, Germany
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A Nokia advertising sign in Dublin, Ireland
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Cable ship Stanelco in 1975 with Alcatel acquisition in 2000
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Alcatel-Lucent ship, CS Lodbrog, in Port Keelung in 2013
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Alcatel cable ship Ile-de-Batz in 2004
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Alcatel cable ship ile de Sein in 2004
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The former Nokia House, Nokia's head office until April 2014. The building is located by the Gulf of Finland in Keilaniemi, Espoo, and was constructed between 1995 and 1997. It was the workplace of more than 1,000 Nokia employees
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Nokia Osakeyhtiö logo, 1865
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Nokia Osakeyhtiö logo, 1871
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Finnish Rubber Works (Suomen Kumitehdas) logo, 1965–1986
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Nokia 'Arrows' logo, after merging with the Cable Factory (Kaapelitehdas) and Finnish Rubber Works (1966–1992). Used in advertising and products until c. 1997.
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Nokia introduced its "Connecting People" advertising slogan in 1992, coined by Ove Strandberg.
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New slogan typeface (Nokia Sans font) introduced in 2005. Nokia Sans had been used by Nokia in products since 2002.
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Wordmark-only version in 2007 (the company stopped using a slogan within its logo in 2011), currently used on Nokia-branded consumer devices including HMD Global-produced phones
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Current logo since 2023
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History of Nokia's corporate typeface
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See Also
