Nokia history

1915 Nokia shares are first listed on the Helsinki exchange.

In 1960, a cable division of the Nokia group had been formed.

When the amalgamation was completed in 1966, Nokia was involved in several new industries, including integrated cable operations, electronics, tires, and rubber footwear and had made its first public share offering.

After the merger in 1966 the new Nokia group under its President Björn Westerlund focused especially on energy politics and the cable business.

While the three companies were jointly owned, they continued to work independently until 1967, when they were finally merged and Nokia Corporation was born.

In 1977 Nokia and its competitor Serlachius became the owners of British Tissue Ltd and later Nokia bought Serlachius.

1981 The first international cellular system, the Nordic Mobile Telephone network, comes on line, having been developed with the help of Nokia.

Installed in 1982, it was the first digital system in Europe.

Kairamo presented in 1982 a business strategy for the paper industry.

1986 Company markets internationally the first Nokia mobile telephone.

Nokia purchased the consumer electronics operations of Standard Elektrik Lorenz A.G. from Alcatel in 1987, further bolstering the company’s position in the television market—it is now the third largest manufacturer in Europe.

The company offers its first digital handheld phone for GSM, which in 1987 became the European standard for digital mobile technology.

In 1988, as revenues soared, the company’s profits, under pressure from severe price competition in the consumer electronics markets, dropped.

Simo S. Vuorileto took over the company’s reins and began streamlining operations in the spring of 1988.

By the end of the decade, Nokia had become the largest information technology company in Scandinavia through its purchase of Ericsson's information systems division in 1988.

In 1989, Nokia-Mobira Oy became Nokia Mobile Phones.

Nokia gained a leg up in cellphone research and development with the 1991 acquisition of the United Kingdom’s Technophone Ltd. for US $57 million.

The computer-division, Nokia Data, was sold in 1991, to a UK-based International Computer Limited.

In 1991, world’s first GSM call was made by the then Finnish prime minister, Harri Holkeri.

The first GSM call was made in 1991 using Nokia equipment.

In 1992, Jorma Ollila replaced Simo Vuorilehto as CEO. He opposed the idea of selling the mobile-phone division of Nokia and turned it into a telecom-based company.

In 1992, Nokia introduced the world’s first commercially available GSM phone, Nokia 1011, which was used by the Finnish Prime Minister Harri Holkeri to make the world’s first GSM call.

1993 The first Nokia digital cellular phone hits the market.

1994: Nokia introduces the 2110, the first of the company's mobile phones to carry its signature ringtone, which was later made famous by Dom Joly's Trigger Happy TV antics.

In 1996, Nokia 9000 Communicator was launched.

To help develop further products, Nokia began acquiring Internet technology companies, starting with the December 1997, $120 million purchase of Ipsilon Networks Inc., a Silicon Valley firm specializing in Internet routing.

Nokia Communicator was launched in 1997 which offered features like email, fax, calendar, and a massive display.

The year 1998 also saw the company launching the Nokia 8810, its first phone without an external antenna.

Rapid success in the mobile phone sector allowed Nokia to become by 1998, the best-selling mobile phone brand in the world.

1998: Nokia becomes the world's largest mobile phone manufacturer - a position it will hold for the next 14 consecutive years.

In 1999 Nokia posted a profit of $2.6 billion on revenue of almost $20 billion.

Accounting for 74 percent of Nokia's total revenue in 2001, the mobile phones division offers a broad range of products covering all consumer segments and cellular protocols.

Because of the strong United States dollar, Nokia's 2001 financial performance looked even better when expressed in terms of Euros.

In 2001 Nokia made two strategic acquisitions.

In its 2001 annual report, Nokia said its "strategic intent, as the trusted brand, is to create personalized communication technology that enables people to shape their own mobile world.

Even more ominous for Nokia, the mobile phone market in 2001 experienced an unprecedented slowdown in growth.

In the fall of 2001, Nokia Networks began the rollout of third generation (3G) wireless network coverage.

But as the prices for oil during the oil crisis were rising, the purchasing power for all of the Finnish companies including Nokia has decreased. (International Directory of Company Histories 2001)

The year 2001 saw the company launching the Nokia 7650, it’s first phone to feature a built-in camera.

The beginning of 2002 witnessed the beginning of third generation (3G) wireless.

"snapshot report: nokia corporation." multex investor, 2002. available at http://www.marketguide.com.

In 2003 Nokia introduced the first camera phone.

Seyfer, Jessie, "Nokia to Acquire Intellisync," San Jose Mercury News, November 17, 2005.

"Nokia and CommTel Expand Broadband in the Pacific," PR Newswire, December 28, 2005.

"Nokia Launches New 3G Phones," eWeek, December 1, 2005.

Incidentally, it was also the company’s billionth phone sold later in 2005.

That’s why the company started to look for new opportunities as well as new acquisition possibilities in this field of business (Stolle 2006, 2 f.).

The most important products of the Finnish cable works were telephone, telegraph and electric cables (Stolle 2006, 4). One of the main raw materials was rubber produced by the Finnish Rubber Works.

Without it Nokia couldn’t develop in a way it did. (Stolle 2006, 4 f.)

It also failed in the same mobile phone market, where it achieved a milestone that companies only dream of, by capturing 49.4% of the market share in 2007.

In 2007, Nokia had started a 50/50 joint venture with Siemens Communications.

Another hiccup came in 2007, when the company had to recall a whopping 46 million faulty cell-phone batteries.

The flagship N8 was launched later in 2010.

Although 2010 saw a rise in profits for the company, job cuts continued.

Apple, the second largest competitor of Nokia, uses iOS systems in its devices. (Eaton 2011)

After taking the reins in 2011 chief executive Stephen Elop signed a deal with Microsoft, saying Nokia would base its flagship smartphones on the company's Windows mobile- operating system.

In this time the company also started with the production of industrial parts, rubber bands or raincoats (About Nokia, Nokia History 2012). It became very popular in the country, so that almost every Finnish family was a proud owner of Nokia Rubber Works products.

Meanwhile, in an effort to save more expenses, the company also announced that it will close its oldest factory in Finland and shift its manufacturing to Asia, which had become its largest market by then - all of this happened in early 2012.

Finally, the year 2013 brought some good news as Nokia returned to profit six quarters of bleeding money.

The creation of Nokia Networks, following the buy-out of joint-venture partner Siemens in 2013, laid the foundation for Nokia’s transformation into primarily a network hardware and software provider.

The Series 40 was discontinued in late 2014.

In 2016 the Nokia brand re-entered the mobile handset market through a licensing agreement with HMD Global, allowing them to offer phones under the Nokia brand.

HMD Global is a Finnish mobile phone company made by previous executives of Nokia. It bought back the mobile phone division from Microsoft in 2016.

2020 Ada Lovelace Honoree Paola Galli “Need for Speed” in the field of Silicon Photonics