The Rise and Fall of Nokia. How the World’s Mobile Giant Disappeared from the Spotlight

From the paper and wood industry to the king of the mobile phone industry. About 15 years ago, Nokia was the main player in the mobile phone arena, with sales approaching half of the global market. It controlled the present and future of smartphones, but a major collapse occurred.

• The beginning was in 1865. The company was founded by Fredrik Idestam July Michelin in the city of Nokio in Finland. It was a company specialized in the production and manufacture of wood.

• In 1970, the company began producing equipment, tools, and radios and entered into projects with the Finnish army to provide this equipment. This increased its sales, which prompted it to expand more and more.

• Nokia established the first mobile communications network in Finland, making this country the first country in the world to obtain full coverage of telephone communications for mobile phones.

Nokia as we know it in the 1980s, was a new era in the life of Nokia. It became the largest information technology company in the Nordic Scandinavian countries, acquiring the Mobira company, which specializes in the manufacture of phones. The result of this acquisition was the manufacture of the Senator mobile phone, which weighed ten kilograms.

• The use of this model was limited to a limited number of prominent figures. At the beginning of the nineties, the company launched the 1111, and it was the first to operate on the GSM network.

• However, it did not allow sending any text messages and was expensive at that time, but that did not prevent the demand for its acquisition.

Nokia's Vanishing Act. How the Phone Titan Lost Its Crown in the Mobile Industry

The nineties of the twentieth century were Nokia’s golden years. Nokia is in every home around the world. who does not remember playing Snake? In 1998, fans of Nokia technology were in for a surprise with the launch of the most famous game in the company’s history, which is the Snake game, on the Nokia 6110 phone.

• This game gained enormous popularity, which helped Nokia lead the mobile phone market and push Motorola out of the way. Its sales exceeded about 100 million mobile phones.

• Nokia also launched the Communicator phone, which was the first of its kind to allow the user to connect to the Internet.

• This phone was a breakthrough at the time, which prompted the technology giant Bill Gates to buy copies of this new version for employees because of its advanced capabilities.

• The nineties were one of Nokia's most prosperous eras, as it was present in nearly 120 countries around the world, its sales exceeded about $20 billion, and its profits during this period exceeded about four billion dollars.

Nokia changes the face of the world. Nokia's revolution did not stop there. It increased its control over the mobile phone market, acquired several companies specialized in programming operations, and appeared to the world in a newer face than it had been. From 2000 until 2006, Nokia was tweeting in the skies of the world.

• Nokia introduced the world to phones with color screens that have file-sharing features via Bluetooth.

• In addition to the features of changing ringtones and a group of different backgrounds.

• In addition to the video recording and photography feature.

Apple is a harsh slap in the face of Nokia. In 2007, Apple launched the first iPhone phones, and Samsung followed suit by launching its devices running the Android system. Nokia found itself in the crosshairs of Apple and Android systems. Nokia tried to remedy the matter and update its phones.

In 2010, Nokia released the N8 phone, and although it was of high quality at the time, it was a late response from Nokia, as users had already moved to new competing companies’ phones to explore, leaving Nokia phones behind.

• The rug was pulled from under Nokia's feet, and a severe loss of losses removed it from the face of the global technological arena.

• Nokia self-destructed itself and fell into the abyss with a miserable failure.

• Nokia focused on monopolizing the market more than on innovation in designing phones that suit the user's aspirations. Nokia did not realize that the strength of the brand alone was not Enough.

Nokia's Downfall. The Unraveling of a Mobile Empire

At the beginning of 2012, Nokia's sales began to decline and continued to decline until its market share in 2013 reached only 5%, which made it stand on the brink of bankruptcy and found no choice but to sell the mobile phone sector, which was owned by Microsoft.

• Bad luck and a useless partnership. Nokia and Microsoft did not reap any benefits.

• It was a fatal partnership for Nokia, as it made it affiliated with Microsoft, which prevented it from competing in the market comfortably.

• It also prevented it from entering the world of Android at an earlier time.

• If Nokia had rushed to manufacture phones running the Android system instead of partnering with Microsoft, it might have succeeded in maintaining its position in the market.

• Nokia returns. In 2016, Microsoft announced that it was abandoning the development of phones permanently and granted the rights to use the Nokia trademark to the Finnish company HMD Global.

Which began to revive the glory of Nokia phones and update their features, so it launched several successive versions in which it abandoned the Windows system and relied on the Android system. In the year 2023, HMD is still working hard to produce more phones for Nokia, but it has not been able to stand in the ranks of the major smartphone maker's competition.

• Nokia urgently needs to learn lessons from its past mistakes, which include an inability to adapt to market changes and the speed of technological development.

• Now, Nokia must focus on developing its software and services better to match the aspirations of modern users.

• It is not enough to just offer Android phones, you must innovate in providing innovative user interfaces and integrated services based on the cloud and artificial intelligence.

Apple's position and ongoing developments

On the other hand, Apple continues to innovate and develop, introducing advanced features in each new version of the iPhone, in addition to improving the ecosystem that connects its various devices such as iPhone, Mac, and iPad. Apple's constant innovation, such as foldable displays and augmented reality technology, puts Nokia in a difficult position.

Future expectations

The fundamental question here is: Can Nokia return to being a major player in this market? The answer depends on their ability to innovate and offer something new that changes the rules of the game. If Nokia cannot provide products and services that compete with those offered by Apple and other technology giants, it may find itself taking a further blow in this competitive market.