HMD global
| 300px | |
| Osakeyhtiö (Limited company) |
|
| Industry | Mobile phones |
| Predecessor | Microsoft Mobile |
| Founded | 2016 |
| Headquarters | Helsinki, Finland |
|
Area served
|
Worldwide |
|
Key people
|
Arto Nummela (CEO) Florian Seiche (President) |
| Products | Mobile Phones Smartphones Tablets |
| Brands | Nokia |
| Parent | Smart Connect LP |
| Website | www |
HMD global Oy is a Finnish company headquartered Helsinki, Finland, that will in the future develop mobile devices under the "Nokia" brand. It announced on 18 May 2016 that it purchased part of the feature phone business of Microsoft Mobile, the company founded after Microsoft's acquisition of Nokia's original mobile phone business in 2014. HMD has planned to spend US$500 million in supporting the marketing of the new products over the next three years, with its products to be manufactured and distributed by Foxconn's FIH Mobile.[1]
The CEO of the company is Arto Nummela, who joined Nokia in 1994 and worked for Microsoft Mobile two decades later. The presidency role will be fulfilled by Florian Seiche, who previously worked at Nokia, Siemens, Orange and HTC. In addition to feature phones, HMD will create smartphones and tablets, which would run on the Android platform.[2] Nokia have said this move is "uniting one of the world's iconic mobile brands with the leading mobile operating system".[3]
Nokia itself does not directly invest in HMD, but it will have one representative in HMD's board of five members. In addition, Nokia will set mandatory brand and performance requirements for HMD's phones, to ensure Nokia-branded products meet consumer expectations for the brand. They also get royalty payments from HMD, who also use Nokia's patents,[4] and the research and development is performed by Nokia Technologies.[citation needed] Overall HMD global is closely tied with Nokia Corporation, considering Nokia's 'veto power' in its products.[citation needed]
Contents
History
Nokia (Corporation) was formerly the most popular mobile phone maker (1998 to 2012), having released many popular devices and contributing to mobile technologies. The brand eventually became a household name in many markets such as Europe and Asia. In 2011 as Nokia was struggling to competitors in the smartphone market, CEO Stephen Elop signed a partnership with Microsoft to use Windows Phone 7 as its main operating system, replacing the aging Symbian platform. However Nokia never managed to recover to its former glory, and sold its mobile phone division to Microsoft in April 2014, forming Microsoft Mobile. The Nokia brand continued to be used until it was retired for Lumia smartphones in October 2014, meaning that from then on the Nokia brand only appeared on basic feature phones, including the Asha line. Microsoft failed to make large impacts from the acquisition, and in July 2015 wrote off the acquisition, amounting to US$7.6 billion, almost the entire purchase price.[5] In Q1 2016, Microsoft sold just 2.3 million Lumia devices, 73% less than a year ago.[6][7]
On 18 May 2016, Microsoft Mobile sold part of its feature phone business, described as an 'unwanted extra',[8] to the newly formed HMD global. HMD signed a licensing agreement with Nokia Corporation giving HMD sole use of the "Nokia" brand on mobile phones and tablets worldwide for the next decade, and cellular standard essential patent licenses, as well as design rights it acquired from Microsoft. Together, these agreements will make HMD the sole global licensee for all types of Nokia-branded mobile phones and tablets. The remainder of the Microsoft Mobile feature phone business, including factories, has been acquired by FIH Mobile, a subsidiary of Taiwan-based Foxconn, who will both manufacture and distribute HMD's products.[9] The total sale to both HMD and FIH Mobile amounted to US$350 million.[10]
Legal
HMD is owned by Smart Connect LP, a private equity fund partly managed by Jean-François Baril. Baril was Senior Vice President of Nokia from 1999 to 2012, having also worked previously at Hewlett-Packard, Compaq, and roles at numerous other businesses.[11]
HMD global Oy was first registered as a business on 9 November 2015, according to Finland's organisations database.[12]
References
- ↑ http://www.mobileworldlive.com/devices/news-devices/nokia-brand-to-return-to-devices-as-microsoft-confirms-feature-phone-retreat/
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ http://www.zdnet.com/article/nokia-branded-smartphones-and-tablets-are-coming-and-they-will-be-running-android/
- ↑ http://www.iam-media.com/blog/Detail.aspx?g=c49dfdbb-3264-4a1f-ad4f-ca5855d94cd0
- ↑ http://www.computerworld.com/article/2945371/smartphones/microsoft-writes-off-76b-admits-failure-of-nokia-acquisition.html
- ↑ http://www.techinsider.io/microsoft-lumia-sales-were-down-73-2016-4
- ↑ http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/microsoft-lumia-sales-plunge-73-percent-latest-quarter/2016-04-22
- ↑ http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-36320329
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ https://uk.linkedin.com/in/jeanfrancoisbaril
- ↑ https://tietopalvelu.ytj.fi/
