The Rise & Fall Of Nokia

The rise and fall of nokia

Nokia started out as a paper mill in 1865 in Finland.

It wasn’t named Nokia until a few years later when the company opened a second mill on the banks of the Nokianvirta river in a town called… Nokia.

Finnish Rubber Works and Finnish Cable Works acquired Nokia to secure access to their hydro power resources. The companies worked independently until 1967 when the Nokia Corporation was formed. They focused on paper, electronics, rubber and cable.

In 1979 Nokia did a JV deal with a Scandinavian TV manufacturer to create Mobira Oy, a radio telephone company.

A couple years later the first international cellular system was launched which linked Sweden, Denmark, Norway & Finland.

By the 1990’s Nokias focus had shifted to mobile phones and the other segments of the company would be sold off.

In 1995 the Nokia 2100 series was launched and they predicted it would sell around 400,000 units.

They miss calculated… by A LOT and ended up selling 20 million phones!

Nokia had emerged as a global force in the mobile phone market, a position they would hold for a decade to come.

They continued to innovate releasing the first camera phone, first 3G phone and phones with video recorders.

In 2003 they launched the Nokia 1100, a low priced option that sold 250 million units!

In 2007 a new kid on the block would arrive, Apple had joining the mobile market with the iPhone.

By 2008 iPhone sales had increased by 330% and they were well on their way to taking market share from the once dominant mobile player.

To make matters worse 2008 saw the first Android phones hit the market and Samsung, HTC, LG & BlackBerry were all grabbing up market share.

Nokia was once an industry leader and a pioneer. When changes were coming at a slow pace they were able to adapt but they struggled immediately when Apple changed the way we viewed Mobile phones.

Apple and Android created ecosystems, Nokia was focused on making calls.

This example is very relevant today and likely in your industry as change is coming at us faster that at anytime in human history.

Innovate, adapt or go out of business.