Nokia was once the number one cellphone manufacturer in the world, but over the years the company has failed to adapt to the smartphone industry, and after a number of failed attempts at utilizing their very own smartphone OS, the company signed an exclusivity agreement with Microsoft to manufacture Windows Phone devices. The sales were poor and the company had to sell their Devices and Services business to Microsoft, which made them significantly weaker. Despite all that, Nokia managed to release an Android-powered tablet, and they’ve even purchased Alcatel-Lucent, which opens all sorts of doors for them. Well, it seems like Nokia is about to splash out more cash soon, read on.
The company has announced that they plan to spend $191 million in order to purchase the French fitness gadget maker Withings. Now, Withings manufacturers fitness-tracking wearables and wi-fi connected scales, amongst other things, and these sure are interesting news. “We have said consistently that digital health was an area of strategic interest to Nokia, and we are now taking concrete action to tap the opportunity in this large and important market. With this acquisition, Nokia is strengthening its position in the Internet of Things in a way that leverages the power of our trusted brand, fits with our company purpose of expanding the human possibilities of the connected world, and puts us at the heart of a very large addressable market where we can make a meaningful difference in peoples’ lives,” said Nokia’s CEO, Rajeev Suri.
Now, according to Mr. Suri’s statement, and pure logic, Nokia is looking to expand into the IoT sector. This opens all sorts of doors for them, and maybe even gives them a way to manufacture a smartwatch in the near future. “We almost owe it to ourselves to go experiment in the consumer area,” said Mr. Suri back in February, so Nokia obviously has big plans for the future. Judging by the company’s latest acquisitions, it seems like we can expect to see Nokia’s branding on quite a few products in the future. The company has already confirmed that they’re interested in manufacturing all sorts of devices, and it seems like smartphones and smartwatches are in tow, we’ll see.