By Dylan Tait
The Beginning
12 May 1865
Tampere, Grand Duchy of Finland Russian Empire
Nokia was founded by Fredik Isatam, Leo Mechelin, and Eduard Polón. The brand was originally a supplier of paper and pulp. But later, it began to focus on telecommunications in the 1990s and started to make mobile phones and smartphones.
First Success
In 1987, Nokia released their first smartphone named Morbia City Man 900. It was a big leap for the production of mobile phones. In fact, it became so popular that the president of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev, had even been spotted using this phone. It was only reserved for the elite as phones were very heavy and inconvenient for traveling. After all, it only weighed 800 grams which increased its popularity. Thus, making Nokia the world’s largest phone vendor. In the present day, the phone would have sold for €4500 euros ($6,600 SGD).
Nokia’s Challenges
Soon Nokia took the world by storm, becoming its leading mobile phone manufacturer. However, other smartphone competitors were introduced into the market. Companies like Sony Ericsson and Motorola posed a big threat. Eventually, Nokia’s 2G phone didn’t seem as impressive anymore. On top of that, Motorola released the first flip phone which brought them lots of customers. Nokia tried their hand at innovation, but ultimately fell behind.
Its Downfall
Later on when Apple released its first smartphone, the world was enthralled by it. Not only did it give each user 16GB of storage, it could also send voicemails. In 2011, Apple overtook Nokia’s place for the most smartphone sales.
There are lots of reasons for Nokia’s downfall. But the biggest of all was that they did not innovate. As a result, they were replaced by bigger companies such as Apple or Samsung, which are the ones we are familiar with today.
