August 4, 2025, 3:45 pm | Read time: 6 minutes
Nokia is a big name in the tech world. However, the company’s roots actually lie in a completely different field.
Imagine a friend tells you about a company that first opened a paper mill, then generated electricity and sold cables, later made rubber boots and tire covers for wheelchairs or bicycles, and eventually became a world-renowned mobile brand. Sounds pretty unbelievable, right? What sounds like a completely crazy Hollywood story actually happened, not in Hollywood, but in Finland. The company is known to most people as Nokia. We tell the story of Nokia’s rise and fall.
Overview
From Conglomerate to Power Producer
The Finns are crazy: The quirky rock bands Lordi or the Leningrad Cowboys have their musical roots there. Schnapps and ice cream made from licorice are considered delicacies in the far north. Therefore, the curious story of Nokia can only begin in this crazy country. The company’s beginnings date back to 1865. At that time, engineer Frederik Idestam founded a company in Tampere, southwestern Finland, that produced various paper products. The products were well received in neighboring Russia and Great Britain.
As the paper business was doing so well, Frederik Idestam soon expanded production and opened a second factory in Nokia. Together with his friend Leo Mechelin, the engineer founded Nokia Aktiebolag in 1871. This was the first time the name Nokia appeared in the commercial register. The following years and decades were marked by numerous company acquisitions. Over time, Nokia developed into a company that produced everyday products.
Leo Mechelin, now Nokia’s CEO, recognized the business potential in power generation early on. Electrification was making huge strides worldwide. The company participated in this development and supplied people with electricity and cables.
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Nokia – on Rubber Boots to Global Corporation
At the beginning of the 20th century, Nokia made another strategic shift. The Finnish company had a particular knack for recognizing trends and immediately catering to them with the right products. The company not only produced rubber sheaths for power cables but also rubber boots and tire covers for wheelchairs and bicycles. The rubber business quickly became a success story as well.
In 1967, the decisive step toward becoming a technology company followed. At that time, Nokia Aktiebolag, the former paper mill, Suomen Gummitehdas, the Finnish rubber works, and Suomen Kaapelitehdas, the Finnish cable works, merged to form a new company. From paper, rubber, and cables, the Nokia Corporation was born.
The new company gradually acquired Finnish manufacturers of radios and televisions. However, consumer electronics took a back seat with the beginning of the 1980s. At that time, the construction of mobile networks also began in Scandinavia, and Nokia was at the forefront from the start.
In 1982, Nokia presented its first mobile car phone. The Mobira Senator weighed almost 10 kilograms and had about as much to do with digital lifestyle as the Toten Hosen with classical music.
Incidentally, Nokia considered the mobile sector a mere gimmick at the time. The company still believed in expanding in the consumer electronics sector. However, Nokia also demonstrated its knack for developments in the mobile sector. Nokia’s portable phones gained more and more fans. Thus, the rise to the world’s best-known mobile brand began in the early 1990s.
Nokia’s Success with Mobile Phones
At CeBIT 1996, the company presented a device called the “Nokia 9000 Communicator.” Essentially, the Finnish company delivered a prototype of the iPhone. At least in terms of concept, the device, which cost nearly 3,000 marks, had everything people would love about the iPhone 11 years later. With the Communicator, Nokia introduced the first office in pocket format. The mobile phone could be opened, featured a full keyboard and a wide screen. With a few clicks, a phone book, a calendar, or a kind of browser could be opened to navigate the then-new Internet.
Nokia then focused on classic mobile phones. In 1998, the Finns became the world’s largest cell phone manufacturer and maintained this position until 2011. The Nokia 3310 is still considered the prototype of a classic cell phone. Fans affectionately nicknamed the handy mobile phone “the brick.” The Nokia favorite provided reliable service for years. Almost unimaginable for today’s smartphone owners: According to the manufacturer, the device could be used for up to 22 hours of continuous talk time. And in standby mode, the battery was said to last an entire month without power.
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Nokia Goes from 100 to 0 …
Nokia’s success stories in the 2000s seemed endless. The Finnish company’s market share climbed to nearly 40 percent at times. However, during this phase of greatest success, Nokia lost a crucial ability: its sense of trends. When a certain Steve Jobs from Apple introduced the iPhone in 2007, Nokia CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo reportedly speculated, “The iPhone is nothing more than a niche product.” A fatal error, as we know today. While Nokia continued to focus on classic phones, Apple served its customers with its smartphone, ushering in a new era in mobile communication.
The decline of Nokia from world market leader to insignificance happened rapidly. In 2011, the former mobile star reported red numbers for the first time. The Nokia management tried to launch its own smartphones on the market. However, the devices were technically far behind the current development.
By 2013, the name Nokia had disappeared from the mobile landscape for good. Microsoft took over the division and tried to establish the Windows Phone. This attempt also failed.
… and Back
The Nokia brand name still exists. A group, including many former employees, formed the company HMD Global in 2016 and took over the naming rights. From 2017, HMD has acted as a partner of Nokia, primarily producing entry-level and mid-range devices as well as retro models like the Nokia 3310. An important topic is patents for licenses and technologies, which also leads to disputes with other companies like Oppo and OnePlus.
Starting in 2023, HMD has gradually introduced smartphones under its own brand name. Initially, the company appeared as “HMD – the makers of Nokia smartphones.” However, the plan is for HMD to increasingly market devices under its own name, while the Nokia brand can still be used for certain products.
The transition could happen faster than expected, as in spring 2026, the current licensee HMD Global will lose its exclusive license to the brand. Since Nokia shows little interest in extending the license agreement or forming new partnerships, the brand may no longer be used for smartphones or mobile phones. Already, Nokia devices are hardly found or listed as unavailable on the HMD website. The end of Nokia phones after decades of mobile history seems sealed.
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However, the mobile and smartphone division plays a rather subordinate role in the overall group. Instead, Nokia wants to avoid missing the future this time and is focusing heavily on forward-looking technologies. Among other things, they are developing cloud-based solutions for the communications sector and researching the new 6G standard together with Bosch.