Industry Mobile phones Brands Nokia Founded 18 May 2016 | Area served Worldwide Headquarters Espoo | |
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Predecessor Microsoft Mobile
(Feature phone business) Key people Arto Nummela (CEO)
Florian Seiche (President) Products Mobile phones, smartphones Type of business Osakeyhtiö; (Limited company) | ||
nokia rovio entertainment hmd global mobile phone hmd global mobile phone
HMD Global Oy, branded as simply HMD, stylized as hmd., is a Finnish company that develops smartphones and tablets, and owns the rights to sell all types of "Nokia" branded phones and tablets. It was formed in May 2016 by buying Microsoft Mobile's feature phone business‹See TfD› and the rights to use the "Nokia" brand until 2024, along with a licensing agreement with Nokia. The sale was completed in December 2016.
Contents
- nokia rovio entertainment hmd global mobile phone hmd global mobile phone
- History
- Staff
- Headquarters
- Legal
- Products
- References
The company is headed by CEO Arto Nummela, and is headquartered in Espoo near Helsinki, in front of Nokia's headquarters. HMD is made up of veteran Nokia staff, and develop smartphones and tablets running on the Android platform. Manufacturing and distribution is outsourced to Foxconn's FIH Mobile division. Whilst Nokia itself does not directly invest in HMD, it has a board member representative, sets mandatory requirements, and receives royalty payments for patents.
History
Nokia Corporation was formerly the most popular mobile phone maker, and its brand eventually became a household name in certain markets. After internal struggles—and a failed series of Windows Phone smartphones which ultimately had only 1% of global market share—the company sold its mobile phone business to Microsoft in 2014, who formed Microsoft Mobile. The "Nokia" brand continued to be used by Microsoft until it was retired for Lumia smartphones in October 2014, but remaining for feature phones. Despite their downfall, Nokia's brand was still widely trusted and recognized.
On 18 May 2016, Microsoft Mobile announced the sale of its feature phone business, described as an 'unwanted extra', to a new Finland-based company called HMD Global.‹See TfD› The sale included design rights, and its rights to use to "Nokia" brand on all types of mobile phones and tablets worldwide until 2024. HMD also signed a licensing agreement with Nokia Corporation which included giving it use of cellular standard essential patent licenses. Nokia has said this move is "uniting one of the world's iconic mobile brands with the leading mobile operating system". Microsoft Mobile's factories has been acquired by FIH Mobile, a subsidiary of Taiwan-based Foxconn, who will manufacture all "Nokia" branded mobile devices including products developed by HMD. The total sale to both HMD and FIH Mobile amounted to US$350 million. HMD have insisted to spend US$500 million in supporting the marketing of the new products over the next three years.
The sale to HMD and FIH Mobile was finalized on 1 December 2016, with new Nokia devices expected to be released in 2017. Subsequently HMD showed a new logo and a slogan, The Home of Nokia Phones, whilst the Nokia website once again listed mobile devices for sale. Their first devices, Nokia 150 and 150 Dual SIM basic phones, were announced on 13 December 2016, while their first Android device, Nokia 6, was announced on 8 January 2017. At Mobile World Congress in February 2017, HMD announced a new version of the famous Nokia 3310, along with 3 new Android devices named Nokia 3, Nokia 5 and Nokia 6.
Staff
The CEO of the company is Arto Nummela, who joined Nokia in 1994 and then worked at Microsoft Mobile when it was formed 2014. The presidency role is fulfilled by Florian Seiche, another former Nokia employee who also had stints at Siemens, Orange and HTC. On 15 August 2016, Pekka Rantala, former CEO of Rovio Entertainment, became HMD's Chief Marketing Officer, commenting that Nokia will "rise again". Rantala previously held several positions at Nokia from 1994 to 2011.
Headquarters
HMD is based at Karaportti 2 in Espoo, Finland, on the same road as Nokia Corporation who are based at number 3. HMD's other main offices are located in London, England, and Dubai, UAE. The former Nokia House still remains part of Microsoft, known as Microsoft Talo.
Legal
HMD is backed by a private equity fund, Smart Connect LP, from Jean-François Baril, who was Senior Vice President of Nokia from 1999 to 2012, having also worked previously at Hewlett-Packard and Compaq among other businesses. HMD global Oy was originally incorporated on 9 November 2015, according to Finland's organizations database.
Products
Consumer products developed by HMD Global: