Mobile phone maker Nokia (NOK) is laying off 285 people in its Salo, Finland plant as it works to develop its own high-end smartphone. Nokia has lagged rivals, especially when it comes to touchscreen devices. A smartphone focus is long overdue at Nokia; along those lines, ABI Research at the beginning of this year urged Nokia to expand its platform portfolio.
“Rather than basing all my models on a tired old candy bar design, I would like to take a design leadership role with a radical new product based on an advanced OS such as [Nokia’s] Maemo,” said Stuart Carlaw, vice president and chief research officer at ABI. “It would be a flagship product with a much better touch environment than the N900 and would have a rich application suite not based on limited Symbian apps alone.”
Perhaps Nokia is heeding that advice, although at the potential expense of nearly 300 workers. To its credit, Nokia plans to try to transfer those employees to other divisions; however, it’s also prepping voluntary severance package offers.
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Company | Month Announced | Layoffs |
Nokia | February | 285 |
AOL | January | 1,200 |
AT&T | January | 650 |
Ericsson | January | 1,500 |
Tellabs | January | 200 |
Time Warner Cable | January | 350 |
Verizon | January | 13,000 |
