back to article Nokia to cut 1,800 jobs

Nokia is to lay off 1,800 people even as it reports increasing earnings and good profits. Net sales, for the last quarter, are up to €10.3bn, with profit jumping to €403m compared to a loss of €426m in the same period last year. But that's not good enough, so the company is shaking down its smartphone business by axing 1,800 …

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Up

    Another day

    another nail in the Symbian coffin. Nokia need Android more than Android needs Nokia..

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Maybe for their low-end phones

      They have invested so much in Qt! But then for low-end stuff what choice do they have but android?

      High-end it looks like it will be Maemo/Meego unless that is next on the chopping block (I hope not!)

    2. Dan 55 Silver badge
      Go

      Not a nail

      This was part of the plan anyway, transitioning over to QT for UI development on Symbian so you can use QT on Symbian 3, Symbian 4, and Meego (and there's also a QT/Android).

      This is a good thing.

    3. Ian Michael Gumby
      Alert

      Uhm... hello Meego?

      I could have sworn that Nokia and Intel entered a partnership and invested in Meego? ?sp?

    4. Anonymous Coward
      Stop

      Nokia needs Android...

      ...as much as they need a kick in the balls. Now, Nokia might be in a death spiral, I am not sure, but Android would only accelerate it.

  2. Adam Salisbury
    Thumb Down

    Bad times

    We're one step closer to nothing but Android or iOS, Apple vs. Google and they're both companies I always love having less to do with

  3. Tim #3

    Hmmm

    The whole OS thing has lost me ( & most other people I know) somewhat; however if any readers could recommend a (preferably Nokia, cos I like em) basic phone that has a really really good camera and a torch facility, even a bit of ruggedisation too, it'd be mighty kind of them.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      The N8

      Has the best phone camera bar none (Don't believe some sites that say otherwise - the camera really is extraordinary considering it's such a small sensor), but might be too expensive - no torch mode I don't think as it's a zenon flash. Sorry. Selling like hot cakes as well. Robust, loads of features. GUI not quite up to iOS or Android but certainly good enough to use. Also works as a PHONE.

    2. Joe Harrison

      contradiction

      "really really good camera" and "torch" tend to be mutually exclusive on phones because the ones with LED flash double that up as a torch facility. A really really good camera however implies a xenon flash which will not work as a torch - such as the one in my Nokia 6220 Classic ("as recommended by El Reg" in one of the Nokia stories recently.) In many ways a bit of a basic phone but I can't find another reasonably-priced one with superior camera.

      1. Tim #3

        Ah

        I didn't realise that distinction between xenon & no torch/ led & torch, kinda obvious when it's pointed out though. N8 looks great, but can't justify the expense as I can not even get a signal where I live. 6220 Classic looks more suitable; will look into it further - thanks

  4. Joe Blogs 1
    FAIL

    Nokia Smartphone

    Those two words in the same sentence just make me laugh...

    Having just battled with the latest "update" to my Nokia breaking a vast array of features, then the frustration of having to deal with their website which contains a plethora of bugs, lets just say my next phone won't be Nokia regardless of whether they adopt Andriod or not.

    In my day job i also have the unfortunate "pleasure" of dealing with Siemens PABX's on an almost daily basis, along with their badly designed configuration interfaces and poorly implemented TCP/IP stack.

    A decade ago, they were the bee's knees, today in communications they are a shadow of their former selves...

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Grenade

    Rats...

    Mr Elop, your decision of trashing Symbian made my mind. No more Nokias for me.

  6. Stinky
    Thumb Up

    The right move

    Everyone knows Nokia has grown to big, so this is really a positive step to help get them a little leaner. The exodus of key execs is also very cathartic, since it was on their watch when things went bad for Nokia.

    Keep going Nokia. Go balls to the wall as if your life depends on it, because it does.

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I wouldn't view this as definite negative...

    I wouldn't view this as definite negative, maybe its the removal of developers that are not developing in Qt in favour of ones that are. To me it looks like a simple move to make everyone sing from the same song sheet (Qt), allowing faster development.

  8. This post has been deleted by its author

  9. Neil 7
    FAIL

    What have the Reg got against Nokia?

    How to spin the good news about Qt and Symbian so that it looks bad! Apart from the 1800 job losses, although if that includes execs then at least some good will come of it, todays announcements are all good.

    Smartphones sales are up, average selling price is up, profits are up, Qt is going to be used everywhere (both UIs and apps, Symbian and MeeGo) and Symbian^4 is no more as there will now just be "Symbian" which will receive continuous incremental updates rather than big-bang release updates which should mean longer term support for owners of current devices.

    Other than the job losses, I find it incredible that you've managed to turn todays positive announcement into something negative. Maybe reporting the news impartially would be a good idea in future?

  10. Average-Developer
    Thumb Down

    The same madness soft but with less stuff ...

    What are you talking about? Symbian OS? It is still more than 10 years Psion OS. Have a look at the SDK. You will see the same \EPOC32 and epoc.exe

    It's gathered with the AVKON(or S60) - the most madness UI framework in the world. I guess Nokia had spent a lot of time to fix all defects in their new phone UI or Symblabla^3.

    Now about QT??

    Qt can work without any Symblabla OS. Just add water - create Qt OS HW adaptation.

    Are they going to merge S60(or AVKON) and Qt frameworks together?

    If YES, Who is this “clever man”? It is definitely “chief” “Sym-Nok” Architect. I wonder it will take now more than 200 years to fix all problems and ship NOKIA N9.

    Nokia is to give up of Symbian stuff ~1800. It is definitely more than all Symbian OS developers in the world.

  11. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Sad news

    Really, have a think for a minute and try to imagine a world where everybody has an Google handset, I am not telling you what to visualize, but please try the thought experiment...

  12. hugo tyson
    Unhappy

    Cambridge Symbian office closure

    According to local rumour, the closure of the Cambridge Nokia (ex-Symbian) office (in Milton) was announced to the workers there yesterday. Bummer.

  13. Chris O'Shea

    Not all good news ...

    ... but what Neil7 said, sounds about right.

    Symbian^4 (as on the Foundation website) was always going to be a Qt UI replacing the current Symbian^3 one, and with new apps developed in Qt (so you could develop an app and have it run on Symbian or Meego) ... but that Symbian^3 apps would not run on Symbian^4 phones ... so why would anyone want to write apps that won't run on next year's phones (without a lot of changes).

    The news this week is that Symbian^3 will now evolve to have even more Qt stuff (it already has Qt but not as the UI) so software written for the N8/E7 etc. will run on whatever phone comes out next year, and the year after, and that the N8 will be able to run new UI when it is ready.

    Sure this is catching up with what the iPhone did, in terms of how you could upgrade the phone's OS ... but then you've got Nokia hardware (12Mp camera, HDMI output and all the rest) plus features such as video calling other 3G phones (and not just limited to other iPhone 4 phones on wifi) which Nokia has had for years.

    Finally I feel safe to buy an N8 or E7 now and know that the apps I get this year will run on whatever Nokia phone I get next year (well, I hope that to be true anyway!)

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Thumb Down

      The end of the end ...

      Symbian^4 is it real?

      Foundation does not have developers and Nokia cut 1800 of them. The most of them will be in the UK London Nokia (ex-Symbian) site.

      Nokia developers, who are “have to go”, would not ever fix any defects of N*, because of zero redundancy package.

      The other part will be frustrated, by tripling their work because:

      - Nothing doing "Developers to go";

      - Nokia would consider, securing job is high privilege to work hard;

      At the end they will defect too, because there will not be bonuses and pay rise. To be honest there is no future, because at least for the half year they will do a little.

      I think this the real fact “the end of the end”.

      98% customers can distinguish phone by a brand and shape of Phone User Interface, but not by OS.

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