Microsoft has bought Nokia’s Devices and Services business last year, and many people thought that’s the end of this Finnish company. It turns out that’s not the case, Nokia has lost their biggest department and is still banned from manufacturing a certain type of ‘smart’ devices as per their agreement with Microsoft. Well, Nokia has found a way to avoid that and actually release a tablet last year. This Finland-based company has hired Foxconn to manufacture their Android-powered Nokia N1 tablet which was a huge success in China thus far. Nokia is trying to find a way to launch this device in other markets, and it seems like they’ll have a lot more options really soon.
Earlier today, we reported that Nokia has acquired Alcatel-Lucent for $16.6 billion. The deal was approved by both companies’ boards, but still requires regulatory and some other approvals, of course. The company is expecting this deal to go through in the first half of next year though. Alcatel is a French smartphone manufacturer and network gear maker. There are probably multiple reasons why Nokia purchased Alcatel, and the company’s 5G research center and belonging info is certainly a part of it. It is also possible that the deal has something to do with smartphone manufacturing, but we can’t really confirm any of that at the moment.
Nokia’s CEO, Rajeev Suri, did say something really interesting after the deal was announced. He said that it’s still too early to say how many jobs would need be cut in Alcatel in order to achieve cost-saving goals. “There will be some impact on headcount but we don’t know the number yet. Finland will remain an important R&D centre for us, and France will be added on,” said Rajeev Suri. He also added that he’s confident that the transaction will receive the antitrust approval of European Union, China and the United States without any complications. Alcatel’s CEO, on the other hand, added that the deal needs to be cleared in nine countries.