HMD and Foxconn will be in charge with launching phones

Nov 21, 2016 13:27 GMT  ·  By

Now that we all know Nokia's comeback in the smartphone business is happening in 2017, let's get an in-depth look at the Finnish company's strategy.

Many of you are probably aware that Nokia won't be releasing smartphones the way it used to do in the past when it was the world's leading phone maker.

The company's strategy is very different and involves a few partners, which will help the Nokia brand take its rightful place among giants of the smartphone industry once again. But let's start with some hard facts that have already been confirmed by the players.

The right to launch Nokia-branded phones for the next 10 years belongs to HMD Global, as the company announced it has bought the license from Nokia.

Nokia fans rock
Nokia fans rock

HMD Global is a Finnish company created earlier this year with the sole purpose of bringing Nokia smartphones to the market. It's been founded by purchasing a part of Microsoft Mobile's feature phone business, and it's run by CEO Arto Nummela, president Florian Seiche, and Chief Marketing Office Pekka Rantala.

Arto Nummela is a Nokia and Microsoft veteran who has worked for these two companies for two decades. Florian Seiche previously worked for Nokia, Siemens, Orange and HTC. Also, Pekka Rantala is the former CEO of Rovio Entertainment, but he also held several positions at Nokia until 2011.

HMD Global is owned by Smart Connect, a private equity fund, which is managed by a former VP of Nokia (between 1999-2012), who also worked for HP and Compaq.

So, HMD Global will be the company that will exclusively develop market and sell Nokia smartphones and accessories for the next 10 years, with the condition of making a minimum €500 million marketing investment in the next 3 years.

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Connect the world

A third company, Foxconn, will be in charge with the R&D and manufacturing of all the future Nokia smartphones. The Taiwanese company is a contract manufacturer for some high-profile companies including Apple, Sony, BlackBerry, Microsoft, and Nintendo.

Basically, while HDM Global will provide the marketing investment and sell the Nokia smartphones, Foxconn will manufacture and R&D them.

Nokia will simply oversight the whole process and will continue to own the brand and the patents that are used in the upcoming smartphones. It's also worth noting that while Nokia doesn't have any shares in HMD Global, the company retains a representative on its board of directors.

Up until now, Nokia has confirmed that four smartphones are in the works, and all are supposed to be unveiled next year. The first one or two devices are expected to be announced in late February, at MWC 2017.

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