Nokia Dials Back Time To Sell Mobile Phones Again (bbc.com)

Nokia said Thursday mobile phones carrying its brand will make a comeback via a new venture that will reunite the Nokia brand with veteran Nokia execs who aim to move into smartphones capitalizing on an existing operation that sells low-cost basic phones. From a report on BBC: It's thanks to a deal with a small team based at a business park on the fringes of Helsinki, who are engaged in what will seem to many a foolhardy mission. They call themselves HMD Global -- and they believe they can make Nokia a big name in mobile phones once again. I met Arto Nummela, Pekka Rantala and Florian Seiche in a cafe on what is still the Nokia campus. That very day Arto and Pekka had stopped working for the Nokia Windows mobile phone business owned by Microsoft -- because they had acquired both it and the Nokia brand to start their new business. Yes, it is complicated, but so is the recent history of what was just a few years back Europe's technology superpower and the biggest force in mobile phones. After the launch of the iPhone in 2007, Nokia faltered and by 2011 was on what its first American chief executive, Stephen Elop, called a burning platform. Then, the phone business was sold to Microsoft, which soon found it had made a disastrous purchase as the Nokia Windows combination failed to claim a significant slice of a market dominated by Apple's iOS and Android. Now, the Finnish business -- which remained a big force in telecoms infrastructure after the sale of the mobile unit -- has licensed the Nokia brand to HMD Global, which aims to take it back to the future.

Comments

Nokia phones

[OneHundredAndTen]

Nokia used to make terrific handsets. It was only when Elop, the worst CEO in history, took the reins that things went south precipitously. If Nokia starts designing handsets again, this time with Android, I'll be in principle interested.

Dare to be different!

[Opportunist]

Build phones with a replaceable battery, with actual keys to type in a phone number or to flip up/down in the phone book, with slots for SD cards and plugs for micro USB.

I know it sounds crazy, but I have that odd feeling that there just MIGHT be a market for something like this.

Re:Dare to be different!

[LordWabbit2]

And make it durable, and keep supporting upgrades regardless of how old the phone gets. I'm tired of buying a phone because the previous one just stopped working, or buying a new phone because stuff no longer runs on it since the OS is out of date. I would buy a phone that would last more than 5 years on that strength alone.