Nokia, and for some time, has been the largest company in Finland. A shining example of European innovation and stability, the telecommunications giant has existed in one form or another since its founding as a pulp mill in 1865. Its current employee count of roughly 80,000 and market capitalisation of roughly $24b USD are, however, dwarfed by its peak size of over 130,000 employees in 2010 and an astonishing market cap of nearly half a trillion USD in the year 2000. The reasons for its decline will not be surprising to anyone carrying a mobile phone in 2025.
From its substantially humbler origins, Nokia steadily grew into a major producer of rubber, then medical devices, and finally, through a series of acquisitions, became a globally relevant designer and manufacturer of electronics, including radio equipment, during the mid-20th century. Nokia grew steadily until the early 21st century, at which point it was by far the world’s dominant maker of mobile phones, selling nearly half of all mobile phones around the world in 2007. Unfortunately for Nokia, 2007 marked the launch of the first iPhone, followed in 2008 by the first Android phone.
Despite Nokia’s numerous attempts to innovate in mobile phone design, their concepts were simply not ambitious enough when compared to those pioneered by Apple and various Android manufacturers, leading to their precipitous decline. Their relegation to their current, comparatively modest status as the world’s third-largest designer and manufacturer of telecommunications network and infrastructure hardware is a lesson for any technology company in the consequences of failure to innovate and adapt to changing market conditions. Looking back at their long history of successful mobile handsets, it’s plain to see that, despite their numerous attempts at innovation, they simply never took enough risks from a technology standpoint to keep up with the likes of Google and Apple.
1011 – Ambitious Beginnings
The Nokia 1011 was the first mass-produced GSM mobile phone in history. While those two qualifiers might make the distinction sound a bit too specific to be significant, in reality, the 1011 was the beginning of what we now think of as mobile phones. GSM was the first wireless technology to set forth and uphold global standards, ensuring mobile handset and network hardware interoperability, and thereby the economic scale and viability of common handset and networking equipment manufacturing practices. This effective standardisation meant that mobile phone manufacturers and network operators around the world could safely invest in the GSM standard, knowing that their costly network and manufacturing infrastructure would not become obsolete.
Nokia was the first handset manufacturer to take that gamble, and it paid off in spades. As the first compact, mass-produced, widely compatible mobile phone at the time of release in 1992, the 1011 was understandably a major hit, catapulting Nokia instantly ahead of Motorola, IBM, and other competitors in the eyes of consumers. The Motorola International 3200, the world’s first digital phone, was released in the same year; it was 30% more expensive, less compact, and not mass-produced, making it much more difficult to acquire.
2110 – Ring Any Bells?
Following the 1011 two years later in 1994, Nokia’s second mass-produced GSM handset, the 2110, was the first Nokia handset designed by Frank Nuovo, the man responsible for the company’s futuristic design language, who would lead the design of Nokia’s most successful mobile phones. Initially regarded as a risky, “radical” design by then-CEO Pekka Ala-Pietila, the 2110 launched Nokia to a new level of success: while initial (and, at the time, ambitious) expectations aimed at selling upwards of 400,000 2110s, the final sales figure was an unprecedented 20 million units. Its exceptionally user-friendly UI, programmable soft keys, and compact design made it an instant hit with consumers. It was the first truly globally popular mobile phone.
The 2110 brought a number of other firsts to Nokia: the first Nokia to use text messaging, the first phone that allowed connection for data transfer to a PC, and of course, the first handset to bear Nokia’s famous ringtone jingle. Most importantly, Nokia established itself as the world’s premier maker of mobile phones – a title they would hold firmly for over a decade.
8110 – Sliding Into Success
While it would never reach the commercial success of the 2110 or some of its successors, the 8110 is easily one of Nokia’s most iconic designs. Launched in 1996 and featured in The Matrix as the mobile phone of choice for Neo, Morpheus, Trinity, and their entourage while “jacked in,” the 8110’s eye-catching retractable button cover and microphone weren’t just for looks. The sliding cover of the so-called “banana phone” carried a dual purpose: it covered the phone’s keypad while stored, preventing the infamous “butt dials” which had become a common nuisance on phones that featured exposed keypads, but it also extended the microphone closer to the user’s mouth, allowing for clearer audio and a more ergonomic experience talking on the phone. Oddly enough, the spring-loaded cover that drew so many to the phone’s design in The Matrix was never a featured offering on the commercially available 8110; on the real phone, it had to be pulled out and retracted manually. Not until its spiritual successor, the 7110, did a mass-produced Nokia have the “auto-extender” as seen in the movie; incidentally, the 7110 launched in 1999, the same year The Matrix debuted in theatres.
The 8110 did feature other first-to-market features for Nokia. It sported monochrome graphic LCD panel that enabled a more complete graphical interface and the display of Asian languages and others using a non-Roman alphabet. The 8110 also pioneered the use of an optional infrared “dongle” peripheral device that clipped to the base of the phone and paired with a similar dongle in order to allow a wireless connection to a computer.
6110 – Serious Business
Nokia returned to its more conventional design language in 1997 for the 6110, an offering aimed squarely at businesses and young urban professionals, or “yuppies.” Despite its more reserved form factor, the phone featured a unique blue faceplate that helped it subtly yet distinctly stand out from the mainstream sea of black mobile phones. The 6110’s main success, however, arose from how it built upon and refined multiple features first explored in the 8110, and a few firsts of its own.
The 6110 was the first ever GSM phone to make use of an ARM-based processor. Although the 6110’s chip was manufactured by Texas Instruments, it featured ARM’s instruction set architecture, or ISA – essentially the method of designating and carrying out different digital operations and calculations performed by the computer chip. Partly as a result of the enhanced capabilities, reliability, and commercial success of the 6110 and its successors, many other companies began licensing ARM’s ISA, which remains to this day the standard in processors manufactured for iPhones, iPads, Androids, and, increasingly, laptops, desktop computers, and even servers.
This uniquely high-power, low-energy computer chip enabled the 6110 to run Series 20, aka “Jack UI,” a simple but powerful and intuitive graphical user interface (“GUI”) that improved ease of use and enabled easy access to more features in the phone, despite the relatively small screen. Laying this advanced GUI over the 8110’s graphical LCD capable of showing more than just Roman letters, and making use of the efficiency and processing power made possible by the ARM-based chipset, the 6110 was the first mass-produced and affordable phone to integrate features like a calendar, calculator, and games. It was also the first phone to feature Snake, the virally popular mobile phone game that went on to become a standard feature on Nokia’s phones. Snake is credited by many with popularising the idea of gaming on a mobile phone, and even kicking off the $152 billion mobile gaming revolution that has followed.
While the 6110 was preceded by many more feature-rich mobile phones like the IBM Simon, Ericsson GS88, and even Nokia’s own 9000 Communicator, the 6110 made use of novel hardware and software solutions to package many of the features offered by these early “smartphones” into a more compact, battery efficient, and economical phone that put its most in-demand use case as a mobile phone first, eschewing the overly-futuristic designs of competitors to place unprecedented capabilities into a familiar yet slightly elevated form factor that made it feel like the “safe” buy in comparison.
While the 6110’s simplicity, completeness, and resulting popularity further cemented Nokia’s already indisputable dominance in the mobile phone industry, in retrospect, it may have been the first step Nokia took down a doomed road. This choice to emphasise and double down upon users’ familiarity with the traditional mobile phone form factor in their business strategy can also be seen as the first nail in what ultimately became the coffin of conservative, “safe” design that held the Finnish giant back from pursuing the ambitious, large screen form factors and touch-based user interfaces that ultimately buried this iconic brand.
5110 – Let Them Have Covers
The Nokia 5510 took the versatile, feature-rich concept of the 6110 and brought it to the masses. Nokia’s ability to deliver a similar form factor and all of the 6110’s most desirable capabilities in a more affordable and even more user-friendly design was one of the company’s crowning engineering achievements, driving the user-friendly, feature-rich, simple design product philosophy that would help the company lead the industry for another decade. The 5110 retained all of the things that made the 6110 great: the returning ARM chip and LED screen delivered the computing power and visibility necessary to allow users to play basic games, enjoy basic PDA functions like calendar, alarm clock, and calculator, and deliver an even simpler user interface than its predecessor. The 5110 introduced Nokia’s Navi-key, a feature first implemented on the 3110, to a phone designed for the consumer market. This button allowed users to quickly and easily access Nokia’s Menu and all of the customisation and functionality contained therein, highlighting the features that made the 5110 more than just a phone and making them accessible to those who might be unfamiliar with other, more complicated mobile phone interfaces.
The 5110 brought another feature that increased its appeal to consumers: the Xpress-on cover. This modular accessory made it easy for 5110 owners to put their own personal spin on their new phone, enabling them to change the color and customize the appearance of the phone. Nokia even made the design files for the faceplate open-source, enabling third part vendors to design and manufacture covers for the 5110, enabling near-endless customization.
The 5110 did give up the 6110’s infrared port for data transfer to a computer, but consumers didn’t seem to notice: the 1998 model sold 39 million units, making it the second-best-selling mobile phone to date, only behind the 60 million units sold by Motorola Startac, the first-ever flip phone.
3210 and 3310 – Doubling Down
1999 and 2000 marked the years that Nokia made good on its understanding of consumer demands and began to truly dominate the industry. The 3210 and its derivative, the 3310, shocked the industry by clearing combined sales of an estimated 300 million units, a number that was unthinkable at the time, and remains out of reach for even the most popular of iPhone models. Nokia’s combination of cutting-edge features, durability, user customizability, and reasonable pricing catapulted them into an undisputed lead in the industry. Remembered by many (including the author) as their first-ever mobile phone, these models brought mobile phones to everyone who wanted one: with a launch price of around $160 USD and reduced pricing available from many telecom operators with a contract, the 3210 and 3310 were accessibly priced for young adults, and durable enough to be suitable for even children. While they weren’t a technical revelation in many major ways, beyond introducing T9 predictive text typing and their characteristic near-indestructibility, the 3210 and 3310 marked a watershed moment in the company’s dominance of the industry.
7650 and N-Gage – Visualising the Future
Despite Nokia’s eventual downfall resulting from its inability to innovate at the same pace as Apple or Google, the company did have its eyes on new and interesting form factors and capabilities as time went on. In 2001, the company introduced the 7650, a phone with many firsts for the company. It was the first Nokia with an integrated camera, and while the .3MP snapper wouldn’t impress users of Google Pixels, Samsung Galaxies, or iPhones today, it was a novel concept to users of the time. It also introduced MMS, the ability to send photos over text messages, as well as Bluetooth and Symbian OS, the operating system that future Nokia handsets would rely on until the company’s adoption of Windows Phone the following decade.
The 2002 N-Gage is easily Nokia’s most eye-catching design of all time. Crafted with gamers in mind, the N-Gage was somewhat inconvenient to use as an actual phone, but extremely ergonomic when used as a gaming handheld. Unfortunately sales figures were disappointing at under 3 million, leading Nokia to prematurely abandon the mobile gaming market they themselves had arguably founded – a mistake they lived to regret.
1100 and 1110 – All-Time Greats
While experimenting with new features and form factors yielded minimal success, Nokia was cooking up another winner behind the scenes. In 2003, it launched the 1100, which, to the date of writing, remains by far the most popular mobile phone of all time. Selling over 250 million units, and being followed in 2005 by the derivative 111,0 which sold an additional 248 million handsets, these are by far the two best-selling phone models of all time, with only the iPhone 6 and 6Plus combined breaking over 200 million units to compete. While these phones did not improve dramatically on the features of past models beyond introducing dust-proofing to the already nearly-indestructible design, their iconic status and commercial success is beyond questioning.
N95 – The Calm Before the Storm
Representing Nokia’s last iterative take on a multi-functional mobile phone before being overtaken by iPhones and Androids, the N95 incorporated music features, improved cameras, and even GPS-powered navigation features into a compact, conservative design that, while it appears archaic today, was as aggressive and forward-thinking as any form factor the company had attempted short of the N-Gage. Combining 3G connectivity with a sliding keyboard, a large colour screen, and an advanced camera, the N95 proves that Nokia was thinking big in 2006 – just not quite big enough. The small screen, lack of touchscreen functionality and threaded SMS, slower processor, and low onboard storage capacity doomed the N95 to irrelevance compared to its bigger, sleeker, more advanced competition.
5800 Express and N8 – Keeping Up with the Jobses
While the 5800 Express may have been a year too late in 2008 to cement Nokia’s foothold in the smartphone industry, this phone did give them a fighting chance. Sticking to their characteristic compact design philosophy and budget-market focus, the Express attempted to create a niche for smaller, lighter touchscreen devices that sold at a lower price and appealed to a wider audience – or so they thought. Unfortunately, the device appeared unsophisticated, buggy, and still lacking in functionality and third-party app support compared to the then-current iPhone 3G and HTC Dream (aka T-Mobile G1) – the “real” smartphones. As it turns out, users who didn’t want to shell out for the newest tech preferred to stick with simple, tried-and-true products.
The 2010 N8 was Nokia’s attempt to compete fully in the smartphone market, and it very nearly made the grade. The N8 supported essentially every feature touted by its competitors, and was hailed by many aficionados and insiders as superior to iPhone and the various Androids populating the market. Its machined aluminium body, 12 megapixel camera, AMOLED display, HDMI output, and plentiful 16GB onboard storage with microSD support put the N8’s hardware all very much ahead of its time. While the N8’s incredible camera was sufficiently advanced to warrant comparison with phones as late as the iPhone 12 Pro, its Achilles’ heel was precisely the iPhone’s greatest strength: software. Nokia’s proprietary SymbianOS was no slouch, supporting features the iPhone lacked like homescreen widgets, native multitasking, and a robust file management system. However, the user interface was buggier and less responsive than either iPhones or Androids, degrading the user experience to a degree that was seen as unacceptable for a premium device. As impressive as the N8 was, it was too little, too late.
Lumia 920 – Last Gasp
The Lumia series of phones was Nokia’s last-ditch effort to compete seriously in the smartphone market. Its penultimate flagship model, the Lumia 920, was the company’s final attempt to throw everything but the kitchen sink at the effort; like the N8, it was thoroughly unsuccessful. Refusing to give up technology leadership even in their death throes, Nokia packaged the device’s 8MP camera with optical image stabilisation, a technology that wouldn’t become standard on high-end iPhones and Androids for another two years. But Nokia had thrown in their lot with Microsoft’s Windows Mobile operating system, a move which, while detrimental for the American software giant, proved absolutely fatal for its Finnish hardware partner. The partnership was so unfruitful for Nokia that they eventually sold the mobile phone hardware portion of their business to Microsoft in 2013 in order to invest and focus on their emerging core business units: network infrastructure hardware, cloud services, and technology licensing.
After 20 years of leadership in the industry, Nokia has all but left the mobile phone business. They still license the Nokia brand to partners like HMD Global, making smartphones, laptops, TVs, and set-top boxes, but it appears that their ventures into consumer hardware are all but over. While the company retains strong industry relevance as one of the top 3 global makers of networking hardware alongside Ericsson and Huawei, and a major player in developing and licensing technical standards for cloud and network infrastructure, it’s unlikely they will ever again be as highly regarded by the general public as they once were.
