Although its ability to meet demand for cheap phones is helping keep it well above water, Nokia has axes 3% of its workforce as it tries to restructure itself to meet the growing global mobile market.
The decision comes just one month after Nokia crowned a new CEO, Stephen Elop. Elop took the place of Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, who aside from having one of the coolest names ever also managed to cut Nokia’s market value in half during his four-year reign.
The layoff decision was made by Elop as he takes command of the helm and makes turning the company around a #1 priority.
Nokia is not quite on suicide watch yet. Even though its presence in the US has diminished incredibly, it still has a huge hold on almost all of the developing parts of the world, where cheap smartphones are often used in place of laptops.
However, the company isn’t content just thriving on that market. It wants a big stake in the competition between Android and the iPhone. It’s set to launch a brand new mobile platform that will be a direct answer to those advanced operating systems, but many see it as too little, too late.
Nokia still has plenty of cash to burn and it’s going to run through it in an attempt to regain relevance in the US. Actually managing to do it, though, will prove to be something of a challenge.
