A company set up by former Nokia employees called HMD Global has licensed the Nokia brand name from Microsoft, struck partnerships with device manufacturer Foxconn and intends to launch an Android smartphone in the early part of 2017.
The head of HMD Global, Arto Nummela, said: "Consumers may be carrying different smartphones now, but are they really in love and loyal to those brands?"
HMD Global will be looking to stir nostalgia in an effort to challenge the big and small players of the highly competitive smartphone market, dominated by Samsung and Apple, as well as Chinese brands such as Huawei.
Related Stories
http://www.anandtech.com/show/11608/nokia-smartphones-to-exclusively-use-zeiss-optics
HMD Global and Zeiss on Thursday announced that they had signed an agreement under which upcoming Nokia-branded smartphones will use Zeiss-branded optics exclusively. The companies said that they would co-develop imaging capabilities of future handsets, but did not elaborate when to expect actual devices on the market.
The collaboration announcement between HMD and Zeiss has a number of layers, all of which seem to be significant. First off, Nokia's future phones will use optics co-developed with a renowned designer of lenses. The important upshot here is that HMD is actually investing in the development of custom capabilities for its Nokia phones. Second, the two companies are talking about "advancing the quality of the total imaging experience", involving optics, display quality, software, and services, but do not elaborate. From the announcement, it looks like HMD will put R&D efforts not only into optics but will design its own software enhancements to improve imaging capabilities beyond those offered by vanilla Android. A good news here is that certain future phones carrying the Nokia brand are not going to rely completely on off-the-shelf hardware, software, and reference designs. Third, HMD announced that imaging is one of the areas that it considers important for its future smartphones. Finally, Zeiss will be used on Nokia-branded devices exclusively, which means that future halo smartphones from Microsoft (if the company decides to launch them) will have to rely on other optics.
Previously: Nokia Smartphones to Return in 2017
Nokia (HMD Global) Attempting U.S. Comeback With Midrange Android Smartphones
Leaked image teases Nokia phone with five cameras
HMD appears to be working on an impressive camera array for a future Android-powered Nokia handset. Leaked design sketches and images hint that we could be about to see a Nokia-branded phone with five cameras on the rear. The penta-lens setup first appeared in rumors about a Nokia 10 device earlier this year, and now an alleged photo has leaked of the handset.
The camera module includes five lenses arranged in what looks like a circle, with prominent Zeiss branding. HMD Global, the Finnish company that licensed the rights to produce Nokia phones, teamed up with Zeiss last year to reunite the Nokia and Zeiss brands for the Android era. HMD has started to use Zeiss optics in its latest Android handsets, and the lens maker has even patented a miniaturized zoom camera system that looks very similar to this leak.
F*** Everything, We're Doing Five Rear Cameras.
But you still have a long way to go.
Also at Engadget.
Previously: Nokia (HMD Global) Partners with Zeiss for Optics Capabilities
LG's V40 Smartphone Could Include Five Cameras (total)
Related: Nokia Smartphones to Return in 2017
Nokia (HMD Global) Attempting U.S. Comeback With Midrange Android Smartphones
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Ethanol-fueled on Saturday December 03 2016, @06:43PM
When people think "Nokia" they think of ruggedized phones that could take a beating. If they were smart then they would make a significant effort to making ruggedized phones, maybe even with 3-letter agency-approved security options, for construction and battlefield use. They could be the "Toughbook" of phones, if you will.
Every other manufacturer and their moms make the same boring ol' flat rectangular nonsense. Nokia should use the brand name to re-establish a niche for ruggedized phones but with more modern features.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 03 2016, @06:53PM
throw out the smartpwn, get a flip phone
drug deals 4eva
(Score: 2) by frojack on Saturday December 03 2016, @07:12PM
If they were smart then they would make a significant effort to making ruggedized phones,
Except those rugged-ized phones are invariably ugly and the market for them is vanishingly small, and I rather suspect the warranty repair risk is high.
Apparently there is still a substantial dumb-phone market in Asia, India and eastern Europe.
However, since the new Nokia is said to be Android, I rather suspect they are not going the dumb phone route.
Maybe they should make a phone with no camera. It would keep a lot of embarrassing shit off the web.
I have a friend that works at a military facility where cameras are not allowed. The only way to have a cell phone on base is to fined one of the very few models built without a camera. Disabling or removing the camera is not sufficient because guard shack gate monkeys can't be relied upon to be able to tell if it is really disabled.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 03 2016, @07:45PM
They're taking over all the Nokia dumbphone models that already exist, of course, and will undoubtedly continue to update those with new models. But you're not going to cure the Nokia brand's slide into oblivion by inventing a shiny new dumbphone to go with all the current dumbphones -- Nokia at its prime was known as much or more for their Communicators, and their N-series multimedia devices, as for their high-volume dumbphones. Nokia sold out to MS, hitching their whole high-end product line to the incredible flop that was Windows Phone, and the only way to recover is to add high-end devices with some successful OS. Even this, I suspect, won't accomplish much this late, but it's the only thing that has a chance.
(Score: 1) by Ethanol-fueled on Saturday December 03 2016, @07:48PM
Is that where they keep the flying saucers?
Racist!
(Score: 2) by el_oscuro on Saturday December 03 2016, @11:38PM
No. Area 51 is a cover for the real location:
Area 52.
The reason no one has ever seen Area 52 is because it is carefully concealed by a Somebody Else's Problem field. Though, if you work in IT long enough, you can develop your own SEP, and it might be possible to detect Area 52.
SoylentNews is Bacon! [nueskes.com]
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 03 2016, @07:34PM
You're in the US, so of course that's what you think.
Nokia was making smartphones before the iPhone, and was in fact the leading smartphone vendor everywhere except the US well after the iPhone. Some of their smartphones never had variants for US networks, but even if you knew about the ones that did, you'd have a hard time finding them in the US; the networks that actually had them didn't advertise them, and didn't often have them in stock at your local storefront. The US phone companies did sell a ton of low-end Nokias, so while everyone knows about their indestructible candy-bar phones, in the US that's all people know them for.
It's not clear why this disconnect happened, and whether the poor availability and zero advertising was a cause or an effect of their unpopularity, but there is an incredible difference in how the Nokia brand is perceived in the US vs. everywhere else. Given that this is being started by former Nokia employees, I'd guess they're more interested in capitalizing on European perceptions of the brand.
(Score: 3, Informative) by frojack on Saturday December 03 2016, @09:11PM
It's not clear why this disconnect happened, and whether the poor availability and zero advertising was a cause or an effect of their unpopularity,
It was an accident of timing for the most part.
In the US at that time Nokia (my first cell phone) was a victim of all US Carrier's strangle hold on allowable handsets. You really did have to buy from them for the most part, and they were only selling what they felt they could handle.
History:
The US got into cell phones in a big way earlier than most countries, and as a result they were stuck with analog systems widely deployed while the EU was standardizing on early GSM.
The US had to rebuild their entire tower network in place as a penalty for being an early adopter. Not once, but twice.
During this time, handsets were tightly controlled by cellular providers, who then had to foot (some portion of) the bill for forced handset replacement due to technology conversions.
Then the carriers saw what the iPhone did to data consumption, and realized their move to GSM was far far too lightweight, and had to massively build out backhaul capability, on top of just completing a analog to GSM rollout nationwide.
They practically GAVE away Nokias and Razrs (dumbphones) to keep people interested, and these phones never died, and lasted well through the iPhone onslaught.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 03 2016, @09:29PM
smartphones before the iPhone
Imposibru!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 03 2016, @08:48PM
Wow. First time I actually rated a post from you "Insightful", as far as I remember.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 03 2016, @09:27PM
Why "ruggedized," what's wrong with "rugged"?
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 04 2016, @01:56PM
They actually have subtly different meanings.
rugged - tough, strong, able to take a beating, etc
ruggedized - made into something that is rugged.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Saturday December 03 2016, @11:30PM
Oh, like Crackberries. That went so well for them.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 05 2016, @12:34PM
When I think Nokia, I think Maemo/Symbian. When I think Nokia's got new phones coming out, I at least think Sailfish. If these things are running Android, I really can't say I see the point.
(Score: 2) by RamiK on Saturday December 03 2016, @07:34PM
HMD global Limited... 5-10 years from now, someone will do a write-up on the Nokia/Microsoft tax avoidance scheme.
compiling...
(Score: 3, Insightful) by MostCynical on Saturday December 03 2016, @08:02PM
they won't be nokia phones. They wil be just another android phone from China with nostalgic branding.
People who liked Nokia phones liked the form factor, the operating system, the long battery life, and the reliability. This applied to dumb phones, flip phones, slide phones or weird slide-and-twist-keyboard phones.
They were good phones. Marketing can't bring that back.
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 03 2016, @09:24PM
The last few Nokia phones before the Microsoft announcement weren't true Nokia phones either. The company had already outsourced to Asia and started closing down its European factories.
Maybe in the era of Brexit, Trump, and failed FARC negotiations, national identity and pride will take precedence over the race to the bottom. If that were the case, I would expect the new Nokia to get basic shit right out of the gate, like timely security updates and OS support for more than the life-cycle of a cell phone contract.
Apple has been pretty successful with the 4" iPhone SE. I would like to see a return of the Nokia N8 with modern internals and OS.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Saturday December 03 2016, @11:34PM
I'm sincerely hoping that the Jolla crew will find their way back onboard Nokia - and make a good Linux-Android hybrid OS that actually works well on both sides (Linux apps/app development tools and the Android app collection.)
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 2) by MostCynical on Sunday December 04 2016, @12:11AM
Sad, but I suspect MS (even an arm's length involvement) won't allow "another" OS, and android without Google apps is not going to appeal to the majority of buyers (unless google play is "allowed" on a phone a hybrid OS - which is not very likely.)
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Sunday December 04 2016, @04:41AM
IDK the extent of residual MS involvement... you're right, anything past about 1% "control" of the new entity is virtually guaranteed to doom it.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 03 2016, @11:13PM
(Score: 3, Informative) by bitshifter on Sunday December 04 2016, @06:09PM
I had a quick look at the website of HMD and found the following in the About us page, and found out that the majority of the management is ex-Microsoft - see excerpts from bio's below.
What does this mean about the spirit of the new company?
Florian Seiche - President - Former Co-Founder of HTC’s branded smartphone business and Global Director of Orange Devices. Most recently he has been Senior Vice President at Nokia and Microsoft, responsible for the Sales and Marketing of Mobile Device in the Europe Region.
Arto Nummela - Chief Executive Officer - Arto Nummela is the Chief Executive Officer at HMD Global. Previously, he was Vice President at Microsoft Mobile Devices Sales group in Greater Asia, Middle East and Africa region.
Pia Kantola - Chief Operating Officer - Pia has over 20 years of experience in telecoms and the automation industry and holds two MSc (Electrical Engineering and Financial Administration). She was Senior Director of Product Management at Microsoft and Vice President of Customer Logistics at Nokia.
Anssi Rönnemaa - Chief Finance and Commercial Officer - ...He was recently Director of Finance for Microsoft Mobile Devices Sales Asia, China, India, Middle East and Africa.
Juho Sarvikas - Chief Product Officer- ...The past 6 years have been spent in the US, where Juho worked in various roles driving Nokia and Microsoft’s business. His accomplishments include introducing Nokia Windows Phone to US carriers and building strategic partnership with carriers resulting in strong product line-ups and most recently leading Microsoft’s entry to Sprint as the general manager for the business.
Ajey Mehta - Vice President India - Ajey has worked with Nokia and Microsoft Devices for over a decade. He’s held various senior leadership positions in business, sales and retail and served as Head of Microsoft Mobile Devices, India; Head of Sales Operations, India, Middle East & Africa; Vice President- Middle East & North Africa; Head of Branded Retail Sales Asia Pacific; and Director of Global Retail Sales Development.
Nestor Xu - Vice President Greater China - Nestor has worked in the Microsoft Devices Sales Group for many years, and has also worked with Whirlpool, Sony Ericsson and Coca-Cola.
Jon French- Vice President West Europe - For the last 12 months Jon has served as General Manager of Microsoft Mobile Asia Pacific.
James Rutherfoord - Vice President Asia Pacific - An accomplished leader, James has held senior management roles at Microsoft, Nokia, Altech and MTN.
Per Ekman - Vice President Middle East & North Africa - Per has worked with Saab, Nokia and Microsoft for over 20 years, in Head of Finance roles in Nokia APAC and most recently Head of Sales Operations with Microsoft, looking after sales optimization and channel strategy across Europe.
Justin Maier - Vice President Sub Sahara Africa - Justin was most recently Head of Sub Sahara Africa at Microsoft Mobile Devices Sales group. Prior to this, he was Head of Marketing Sub Sahara Africa at Microsoft Mobile Devices Sales group.
(Score: 2) by Murdoc on Monday December 05 2016, @04:00AM