Nokia swings axe again

Suffers from arrested development

Nokia is streamlining again, this time to the tune of 230 employees in Finland and another 100 in Copenhagen.

The staff are being cut from the Research & Development division, representing around two per cent of that division, which is all part of the Nokia plan to focus its tech on fewer platforms and thus do less research.

Staff are being consulted, and some will find jobs elsewhere in Nokia, but research and development is very expensive and, arguably, less important than it used to be.

Nokia spearheaded the mobile-phone revolution, but these days the technology in a mobile phone is commoditised and anyone with a decent brand and some Asian contacts can make a mobile phone: understanding, or owning, the technology isn't as useful as it used to be.

Add that to the fact that decreasing handset subsidies will slow the deployment of new technologies and it's clear that a company like Nokia won't be needing the same level of R&D in future.

And, lest we forget, even following these cuts, Nokia will still have around 17,000 people doing what R&D remains necessary. ®