Espoo, Finland – Nokia today announced that it will introduce a new company structure from January 1, 2008. The move, driven by Nokia’s strategy, is aimed at creating an organization aligned with the opportunities Nokia sees for future growth, and to increase efficient ways of working across the company.
„The convergence of the mobile communications and internet industries is opening up new growth opportunities for us, both in the devices business as well as in consumer internet services and enterprise solutions. Growing consumer demand for rich, mobile experiences creates an opportunity for change. Nokia will bring these capabilities to the broadest range of devices and price points. This unleashes the power of Nokia’s device volumes, now coupled with new services and business solutions. This distinctive approach sets Nokia apart from point solutions vendors,“ said Nokia CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo. „We believe this new organization can capitalize on these opportunities while allowing us to increase the effectiveness of our investments and the efficiency of our operations.“
Under the new organization, Nokia’s current business group and horizontal group structure in the device business will be replaced by three main units: Devices, responsible for creating the best device portfolio for the marketplace; Services & Software, reflecting Nokia’s strategic emphasis on growing its offering of consumer internet services and enterprise solutions and software; and Markets, responsible for management of Nokia’s supply chains, sales channels and marketing activities. In addition, Nokia will establish a Chief Development Office to optimize Nokia’s strategic capabilities and growth potential and also provide operational support for integration across all these units in conjunction with the CEO.
From January 1, 2008 onwards, under the new structure, Nokia will have two reportable segments: Devices & Services, and Nokia Siemens Networks. Nokia will report on these two segments in its quarterly and annual results announcements.
The Devices unit will be headed by Kai Öistämö, currently heading the Mobile Phones Business Group; the Services & Software unit will be headed by Niklas Savander, currently heading Technology Platforms: the Markets unit will be headed by Anssi Vanjoki, currently heading the Multimedia Business Group. Mary McDowell, currently heading the Enterprise Solutions Business Group will hold the position of Chief Development Officer.
Robert Andersson, currently heading Customer and Market Operations, will be responsible for finance and strategy in Devices and Nokia-wide strategic sourcing. Tero Ojanperä, currently Nokia’s Chief Technology Officer, will have business responsibility for entertainment and communities services in Services & Software. Timo Ihamuotila, currently in charge of Mobile Phones‘ Sales and Portfolio Management, will be responsible for Nokia’s global sales within the Markets unit.
Other Group Executive Board members, Simon Beresford-Wylie, Hallstein Moerk, Rick Simonson and Veli Sundbäck will continue in their current positions.
Nokia expects that the new organization will allow it to manage its device portfolio with greater effectiveness, speed up time to market for new products, and increase the efficiency of its marketing and productization efforts. In addition, Nokia expects that having a new unit dedicated to consumer internet services and enterprise solutions will build on the foundations established in the existing organization to best position the company to offer its customers complete solutions.
About Nokia
Nokia is the world leader in mobility, driving the transformation and growth of the converging Internet and communications industries. Nokia makes a wide range of mobile devices and provides people with experiences in music, navigation, video, television, imaging, games and business mobility through these devices. Nokia also provides equipment, solutions and services for communications networks.
It should be noted that certain statements herein which are not historical facts, including, without limitation, those regarding: A) the timing of product and solution deliveries; B) our ability to develop, implement and commercialize new products, solutions and technologies; C) expectations regarding market growth, developments and structural changes; D) expectations regarding our mobile device volume growth, market share, prices and margins; E) expectations and targets for our results of operations; F) the outcome of pending and threatened litigation; and G) statements preceded by „believe,“ „expect,“ „anticipate,“ „foresee,“ „target,“ „estimate,“ „designed,“ „plans,“ „will“ or similar expressions are forward-looking statements. These statements are based on management’s best assumptions and beliefs in light of the information currently available to it. Because they involve risks and uncertainties, actual results may differ materially from the results that we currently expect. Factors that could cause these differences include, but are not limited to: 1) competitiveness of our product portfolio; 2) our ability to identify key market trends and to respond timely and successfully to the needs of our customers; 3) the extent of the growth of the mobile communications industry, as well as the growth and profitability of the new market segments within that industry which we target; 4) the availability of new products and services by network operators and other market participants; 5) our ability to successfully manage costs; 6) the intensity of competition in the mobile communications industry and our ability to maintain or improve our market position and respond successfully to changes in the competitive landscape; 7) the impact of changes in technology and our ability to develop or otherwise acquire complex technologies as required by the market, with full rights needed to use; 8) timely and successful commercialization of complex technologies as new advanced products and solutions; 9) our ability to protect the complex technologies, which we or others develop or that we license, from claims that we have infringed third parties‘ intellectual property rights, as well as our unrestricted use on commercially acceptable terms of certain technologies in our products and solution offerings; 10) our ability to protect numerous Nokia patented, standardized, or proprietary technologies from third party infringement or actions to invalidate the intellectual property rights of these technologies; 11) our ability to manage efficiently our manufacturing and logistics, as well as to ensure the quality, safety, security and timely delivery of our products and solutions; 12) inventory management risks resulting from shifts in market demand; 13) our ability to source quality components and sub-assemblies without interruption and at acceptable prices; 14) Nokia’s and Siemens‘ ability to successfully integrate the operations, personnel and supporting activities of their respective businesses as a result of the merger of Nokia’s networks business and Siemens‘ carrier-related operations for fixed and mobile networks forming Nokia Siemens Networks; 15) whether, as a result of investigations into alleged violations of law by some current or former employees of Siemens, government authorities or others take actions against Siemens and/or its employees that may involve and affect the carrier-related assets and employees transferred by Siemens to Nokia Siemens Networks, or there may be undetected additional violations that may have occurred prior to the transfer, or ongoing violations that may occur after the transfer, of such assets and employees that could result in additional actions by government authorities; 16) the expense, time, attention and resources of Nokia Siemens Networks and our management to detect, investigate and resolve any situations related to alleged violations of law involving the assets and employees of Siemens carrier-related operations transferred to Nokia Siemens Networks; 17) any impairment of Nokia Siemens Networks customer relationships resulting from the ongoing government investigations involving the Siemens carrier-related operations transferred to Nokia Siemens Networks; 18) developments under large, multi-year contracts or in relation to major customers; 19) general economic conditions globally and, in particular, economic or political turmoil in emerging market countries where we do business; 20) our success in collaboration arrangements relating to development of technologies or new products and solutions; 21) the success, financial condition and performance of our collaboration partners, suppliers and customers; 22) any disruption to information technology systems and networks that our operations rely on; 23) exchange rate fluctuations, including, in particular, fluctuations between the euro, which is our reporting currency, and the US dollar, the Chinese yuan, the UK pound sterling and the Japanese yen, as well as certain other currencies; 24) the management of our customer financing exposure; 25) allegations of possible health risks from electromagnetic fields generated by base stations and mobile devices and lawsuits related to them, regardless of merit; 26) unfavorable outcome of litigations; 27) our ability to recruit, retain and develop appropriately skilled employees; and 28) the impact of changes in government policies, laws or regulations; as well as the risk factors specified on pages 12-24 of the company’s annual report on Form 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2006 under „Item 3.D Risk Factors.“ Other unknown or unpredictable factors or underlying assumptions subsequently proving to be incorrect could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Nokia does not undertake any obligation to update publicly or revise forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except to the extent legally required.
