

Nokia to cut thousands of jobs, Google reminds it is hiring - ainsleyb
http://www.techspot.com/news/42379-nokia-to-cut-thousands-of-jobs-google-reminds-it-is-hiring.html

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tommi
Positions available in Finland:

Engineering Operations & Management (7)

Enterprise (5)

Marketing and Communications (1)

Sales (6)

Hardly work for the thousands.

~~~
stcredzero
Realistically, Google or any smart competitor just wants the top 20% or so of
the disaffected Nokia employees.

------
stcredzero
Since Nokia's dropped the ball, Google should poach Nokia employees and go for
an end-run around Apple, Microsoft, and the rest of the competition in the 3rd
world.

Find a way to deliver rich services and develop a healthy developer ecosystem
on _dumb phones_. (feature phones) Right now, people in developing countries
are using services like banking over SMS the way we now use web apps and
smartphone apps. This tells me there's latent demand.

By blurring the line between smart phones and feature phones, you can entirely
undercut the smart phones. Get in there first, with less capable but cheaper
phones people can actually afford, with services delivered more comfortably
than SMS and with more cultural sensitivity than the usual outside company. As
Moore's law continues to make processing power cheaper, the line between smart
phones and dumb ones will blur, while at the same time, the citizens of the
developing nations will become more affluent. Such a "blur phone" product and
ecosystem will have already undercut the smartphones before they're even as
real as a pipe dream and will have entrenched power of a network effect.

~~~
ZeroGravitas
Google already has this plan in motion, with no need for Nokia or ex-Nokia
employees. It's not really a big secret either as Schmidt is always going on
about getting the next billion online.

Part of the reason Nokia is hurting is that they have been severely disrupted
at the low-end. The dumphone became an absolute commodity. Elop specifically
name-checked MediaTek in his burning platforms memo as the designer of the
standardized innards for these no-name, white-box manufacturers:

 _"Let’s not forget about the low-end price range. In 2008, MediaTek supplied
complete reference designs for phone chipsets, which enabled manufacturers in
the Shenzhen region of China to produce phones at an unbelievable pace. By
some accounts, this ecosystem now produces more than one third of the phones
sold globally - taking share from us in emerging markets."_

Guess what MediaTek are now selling? That's right, the same thing but for
Android. Here's there PR for the latest version:

[http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/mwc2011-mediatek-
ann...](http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/mwc2011-mediatek-announces-
the-mt6573---innovative-platform-for-mainstream-smartphones-115785184.html)

" _MediaTek is launching the MT6573 platform to address the accelerating
demand for smartphones with features that can delight users at price points
that meet the needs of operators in developed markets and consumers in
emerging markets._ "

~~~
stcredzero
_Part of the reason Nokia is hurting is that they have been severely disrupted
at the low-end. The dumphone became an absolute commodity._

Yes. This is why they need to get out of the dumbphone business. This is
precisely why having their own software ecosystem is attractive.

They should take a play from Apple's playbook -- create your own product
category. Instead of taking on Apple, Blackberry, Android directly, they
should undercut them. Produce something which can run on cheaper hardware than
iOS, WP7, or Android, and market these to provide better interfaces for
developing world services now running over SMS. Do this with a software
ecosystem, so that the telcos can't strangle the real software market.

 _"MediaTek is launching the MT6573 platform to address the accelerating
demand for smartphones with features that can delight users at price points
that meet the needs of operators in developed markets and consumers in
emerging markets."_

Someone should take another play from Apple's playbook -- don't compete with
low-cost producers overseas. Instead, position yourself higher up on the value
food-chain. Note that Apple used to produce hardware domestically. Apple does
the design and farms out the production to folks like Foxconn overseas. This
way, instead of enemies, you gain highly capable partners instead.

~~~
jarek
" _They should take a play from Apple's playbook -- create your own product
category. Instead of taking on Apple, Blackberry, Android directly, they
should undercut them. Produce something which can run on cheaper hardware than
iOS, WP7, or Android, and market these to provide better interfaces for
developing world services now running over SMS. Do this with a software
ecosystem, so that the telcos can't strangle the real software market._ "

That's _exactly_ what they've been doing for the past decade with Symbian and
various Mae/Mee OSes and the technology commentators and the market haven't
been exactly impressed lately.

It takes some strength to say "this isn't going to work out, what's the next
best thing we can do."

~~~
stcredzero
_That's exactly what they've been doing for the past decade with Symbian and
various Mae/Mee OSes and the technology commentators and the market haven't
been exactly impressed lately._

AFAIK, they've been doing it for the wrong market. You do the "blur phone"
strategy in markets where having a cell phone at all is still a big deal.

------
pmoehring
There are no real details about how many jobs will be cut, or where.

The quote "20.000 is a pretty significant number in Finland" seems to be
related to the total number of Nokia jobs in Finland, not the amount to be
cut. I think it's safe to say that the majority of jobs will be cut elsewhere,
since Nokia will do all but severe any relationships with the government that
has treated them very well.

Now as for Google's announcement - easy, right? Just a short notice and
piggybacking for some PR. They are pissed for obvious reasons, so it's an
understandable move (although their reactions were remarkably snark).

Overall, pretty sensationalist reporting, which is even more obvious when
seeing how the writer dances along the fine line of using big numbers without
clear language.

------
trezor
Google still running its PR-stunt after having its OS rejected.

But hey, it's Google so lets completely ignore that and give them credit like
we wouldn't give any other company!

~~~
l0nwlf
Alas, the better of the OS was rejected.

~~~
jarek
Define "better."

~~~
rbanffy
The one users actually want?

~~~
maukdaddy
Silly hackers; users don't want an OS. Users want a product that works, is
easy to understand, and looks good.

~~~
rbanffy
> Users want a product that works

Like WP7?

~~~
mariusmg
Exactly. A OS with high usability which works. NOT a phone OS which has a
frigging process explorer !!

