

Oh, Nokia. Another 3,500 People Laid Off, Manufacturing Operations Trimmed Down - ga0bi
http://techcrunch.com/2011/09/29/oh-nokia-another-3500-people-laid-off-manufacturing-operations-trimmed-down/

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blumentopf
One piece of information that's missing in this article:

Nokia closed down its plant in Bochum, Germany in 2008 and transferred the
jobs to Romania in Eastern Europe where labour is cheaper. This damaged their
reputation in Germany significantly. The Bochum theatre put up dumpsters where
people could get rid of their Nokia phones and replace them with a competitor
product.

It's not a small irony that just 3 years later, the employees in Romania lose
their jobs as well.

In retrospect, the people in Bochum got really lucky because Nokia agreed to
pay millions to be able to shut down their plant.

Edit: The Bochum theatre also produced a play at the end of 2008 with the
prophetic title "Connecting People - Erinnerungen an einen Handy-Hersteller"
(memories of a cellphone manufacturer), its cast consisting of former Nokia
employees: [http://www.derwesten.de/wr/westfalen/kultur/Erinnerungen-
an-...](http://www.derwesten.de/wr/westfalen/kultur/Erinnerungen-an-einen-
Handy-Hersteller-id946825.html)

~~~
guard-of-terra
I wonder how much it costs to build a new plant in another country and shut
down and old one while transferring operations, and I would probably bet some
money that they actually lost money on that.

3 years of operations probably did not offset costs.

~~~
blumentopf
They received subsidies from Romania and the EU for building the plant in Cluj
that they'll likely have to return if they close down the fab early.

That's why they agreed to pay millions for closing down the plant in Bochum,
because they had received subsidies for building that plant in the 1990s and
the German state of Nordrhein-Westfalen claimed they didn't fulfil the
conditions under which the subsidies were granted.

Here's a PDF with some details (page 12):
[http://www.eurofound.europa.eu/emcc/erm/templates/displaydoc...](http://www.eurofound.europa.eu/emcc/erm/templates/displaydoc.php?docID=46)

Quote: "Nokia received German state subsidies for its production in Bochum and
will be exempted from the real estate tax in Romania, while the infrastructure
for its new plant in Cluj was subsidised by Romanian and EU funds."

Nokia would really hold the world record in shortsighted management if HP
hadn't ousted them in that discipline this summer.

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tripzilch
I don't want people to forget how they helped out Egypt and Iran finding more
people to torture:

[http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-08-22/torture-in-
bahrain-...](http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-08-22/torture-in-bahrain-
becomes-routine-with-help-from-nokia-siemens-networking.html)

I can't imagine why I would ever spend a penny on anything made by Nokia or
Siemens, again.

~~~
signa11
well, i would guess that the monitoring s/w etc. that was mentioned in the
article, was part of the various gateway nodes that make up the entire
2g/3g/4g network. 3gpp has standardized on well defined interfaces for "lawful
interception". most likely, if you are using any of the above wireless
technologies, you may be subjected to them as well, and of course you would
never know.

another point-of-view, would you also blame cisco aiding and suppressing
dissident movement in china just because their equipment was/is the one being
used to do so ? on the same lines, i think, the hand wielding the knife should
be taken to task, rather than it's manufacturer...

~~~
tripzilch
> well, i would guess that the monitoring s/w etc. that was mentioned in the
> article, was part of the various gateway nodes that make up the entire
> 2g/3g/4g network. 3gpp has standardized on well defined interfaces for
> "lawful interception".

Did you even _read_ the article? This Nokia-Siemens joint venture built was
not specifically targeted at wireless.

You make it sound as if Iran and Egypt just bought a certain model of wireless
routers or switches that Nokia-Siemens happened to offer on the international
market.

 _No_ , the Nokia-Siemens joint venture was _specifically_ created as a bid
for the _custom_ monitoring technology Iran needed. They probably re-used some
of that knowledge when Egypt needed a similar system, later.

This is not just a question of Iran ordering some pieces of hardware equipment
that the way they installed it just happened to help them find more
"dissidents" to torture.

Nokia-Siemens designed, developed and built the _infrastructure_ , it entails
a littlebit more. They knew from the start _exactly_ what this system they
were building in Iran was going to be used for, they designed it and sent over
their expertise to lay the f#ing cables and configure the routers and switches
so that it did what Iran ordered it to do.

No, I wouldn't blame some corporation for selling hardware/equipment that
happens to be used for tracking down people to torture.

 _Yes_ , I _do_ blame a corporation when they bid to a _specific order_ that
really doesn't leave any doubt as to what the system is going to be directly
used for, proceed to design it (again with the "requirements" crystal clear),
develop, build and deploy it on the spot.

------
pacala
> Nokia’s high- volume Asian factories provide greater scale and proximity
> benefits.

Bye bye Western technology. It was nice knowing you. "Greater scale and
proximity benefits" are crowning China as the new 800lb gorilla. Special
thanks go to the "let's outsource to China for $10M bonus this year" top
management.

------
nhoj
"Joy to the world!

What a trainwreck."

I find news about Nokia interesting, so thank you for posting this, but what
is up with the tone of the article? It feels more like a youtube-comment than
news.

------
ericHosick
Nokia has/had awsome hardware but it seems their software platform has always
been lacking.

Is hardware > software or is software > hardware or is software ≈ hardware?

~~~
T-zex
Not sure if engineering is to blame. I guess lack of vision did the biggest
damage.

~~~
nextparadigms
It was the lack of vision. They kept doubling down on Symbian for 4 years
thinking they can make it competitive with iOS and Android. It was the wrong
decision.

They should've kept supporting Symbian, but focus on Maemo (or a new OS) from
day one (after the iPhone launched). Supporting WP7 over Android will probably
be the final biggest mistake that Nokia did.

------
apaprocki
If you look at their financials, they are still a very profitable company.
Revenue is ~40 billion, net income a little under 2 billion. It seems if they
continue on the path of "we can make a better smartphone!", their financial
statement will be murdered in the next 2-3 years. If someone fiscally
conservative took over and focused them on the niche where they do well, they
can still survive in a post-smartphone world. That would require trimming
jobs, cutting costs...

~~~
jfruh
But is that a niche that's even going to exist in five years? I'm sure someone
will be making feature phones in 2017 (I mean, someone's still making landline
phones today) but that'll be a low-margin business for companies worth much,
much less than Nokia is worth today. I can't imagine Nokia's shareholders
would like this idea... in their view, it's probably better to swing for the
fences than resign yourself to failure.

------
faizanaziz
Laying off jobs is kind off expected since there whole software division has
become redundant due to Micrsoft's OS... Agreed they still have to make some
software but that's still way lesser than what it did previously.

Whats troubling is that it is reducing manufacturing... Does it actually
expect to sell less phones and if it does than how does it plan to make
money... They are mass market devices, numbers are really important

~~~
juhanaj
These layoffs don't affect their software division. This is mostly about
moving production to Asia.

They will also stop manufacturing phones in Finland. The plant in Finland
won't be shutdown (yet) but they won't be manufacturing phones anymore.

------
lambtron
nokia has been continuously losing market share in both their high end and low
end products. if microsoft is in a better position, it could be accretive for
microsoft to buy nokia to support microsoft's flailing mobile division.

stephen elop's only hope is for nokia's vertu sales to remain high.

~~~
antimarketing
I swear, elop is the most unpopular man in Finland. If not for U.S military
might Finland would declare a war because of what he has done to their
national crown jewel.

~~~
izend
That sentiment is a little short-sighted... Its equivalent to blaming Obama
for the poor economy a year into his term. Nokia was on the path of failure
long before Elop arrived.

~~~
Geee
Elop's statements about current products have been really stupid, and that has
really hurt sales. Why announce two platforms 'dead' when there's clear path
forward for both of them, and now we have seen major updates and announcements
for them?

