Nokia to fight Apple, RIM with phone OS divisions

Nokia today said it would restructure itself to better compete with its rivals. The copmany will now be split into three groups. A basic Mobile Phones group will handle the low-end S40 phones that make up the bulk of Nokia's business. The Mobile Solutions group will tackle smartphones and will itself be split into separate groups to handle MeeGo and all smartphone-class Symbian platforms. A third group, Markets will be dedicated solely to marketing, selling and shipping devices across the entire company.

The shift also sees Nokia's key mobile phone head, Rick Simonson, retiring from full-time work as of the end of June; he will be limited to a senior advisor's role and move away from phones, focusing instead on infrastructure with Nokia Siemens Networks. Mary McDowell will replace him, while well-known Nokia executive Anssi Vanjoki will head up the more advanced Mobile Solutions group.

All of the changes should take effect by July 1st.

The leaner structure is pitched as crucial for linking Nokia's Ovi services tightly with hardware and may be important for Nokia's continued relevance. In spite of repeated promises centering around new phones and services, the company has struggled to keep market share where Apple and even smaller companies like HTC and Motorola have been gaining ground; until recently, RIM was also taking share away from Nokia. Most complaints have centered around the Finnish firm's slowness in producing advanced touchscreen phones to compete with Android and the iPhone, as the gap is only now being fully addressed by the N8 and its use of the multi-touch-aware Symbian^3 platform.

By Electronista Staff