Nokia's director of strategy, Anssi Vanjoki, admits that the Finnish company was ill-prepared for the sustained and undeniably successful attack on its commanding position by the likes of Apple, Google and RIM and "does not rule out" the sale of its handset business at some time in the future. Martyn Warwick reports.
In an interview published this morning in the German magazine Wirtschaftwoche, Mr. Vanjoki, who is also Nokia's head of marketing, admits too that his company needs to work harder to improve its mobile Internet products if it is to to stay in contention with the likes of Apple, Google and Research in Motion - the manufacturer of the increasingly popular Blackberry PDAs.
The bombshell admission comes as some analysts claim that Q3 figures show Apple has knocked Nokia off the top spot to become the world's most profitable handset vendor. Others though claim that Nokia is still up there at the top of the greasy pole and that, in due course, figures for Q4 will provide confirmation that it remains the world's Number One global cellphone maker - in all respects.
Nonetheless, this begs the question as to why a man as senior as Anssi Vankjoki would tell the press that he "does not exclude" the selling off of the jewel in Nokia's crown at some unspecified date in the future. It is also evident that the head of strategy is not a loose cannon and did not make his "on the record" remarks off-the-cuff or without the knowledge of the Nokia board.
So, what's going on? Well, Nokia has taken a hard knock. Hitherto, the company was seemingly impregnable up there in its Nordic stronghold, but times are changing.
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