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2 top managers of Nokia Networks have been fired
December 05, 2004;
Nokia Networks failed to get big deal in USA from Cingular and generally the state of this part of Nokia is poor. So no wonder, that shortly after this failure in USA they have been fired...

Sari Baldauf - boss of Nokia Networks and Jukka Bergqvist one of top managers of Nokia Networks, have been just fired.

... and contract of Jorma Olila - the current CEO of Nokia ends in year 2006. Before joining Nokia Jorma Olila was only a minor clerk at local tiny division for Finland of Citibank and only in Nokia he become somebody.

It is very funny that Sari Baldauf was fired because many people were predicting her to become CEO of Nokia after Jorma Olila will leave Nokia in 2006.

Contrary to Sony Ericsson that separated cell phone business from mobile networks business, Nokia combines in one organization both of them. Nokia Networks brings about 20% of revenues and mobile phones bring around 80%. Of course nobody can talk about Nokia having monopoly in mobile industry but there were several rumors present, that Nokia is tweaking its mobile networks in this way, that they work worse with cell phones not made by Nokia.

Not only Nokia forced many operators into dubious deals where operators had to spend many millions of Euro for 3G network infrastructure but Nokia also has been hindering development of 3G networks by not providing videotelephony with camera in front in Nokia cell phones! How Nokia forced these operators into buying 3G network infrastructure? Simple: they suggested that they will provide less support for operators' existing GSM (2G) networks if given operator will not buy also 3G network infrastructure. Lately, during a meeting between Nokia and Vodafone, when asked why Nokia by now hasn't been putting camera on the front of their 3G phones to enable video telephony (to make video phone calls one needs to put Nokia 3G phones in the cradle), Nokia employees present at that meeting answered "because our market research showed that customers don't want camera also in the front".

Sari Baldauf will be replaced by English native speaker - an Australian. Native English speakers have by definition a higher status in Finland (a country in the very east of Eastern Europe), than anybody else and Nokia wants to "internationalize" itself in the eyes of network operators...

As we can all see Nokia sinks like Titanic, not only in the area of mobile networks but also in area of cell phones: Nokia's market share in area of cell phones is dwindling and for more and more people the really stylish phones are made by Sony Ericsson and Samsung, but not by Nokia. It is only a question of time, when Samsung will overtake Nokia in the handset industry. The only cure for Nokia would be to abandon ideological business strategy and to start producing, similarly like Samsung and Motorola are doing, also cell phones powered by Microsoft software!

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