Behind the Screen – the Nokia Story

Behind the Screen
– Nokia’s success story in an industry of navel-gazing executives and crazy frogs

Author: Ari Hakkarainen
Publisher: Klaava
Published: 2. edition, September 2010

Full-size cover image.

Behind the Screen unveils Nokia’s phenomenal success story through people, business initiatives and products. The book explores key moments, key technologies and key managers who contributed to the company’s growth to become the world’s favorite mobile phone brand.

In the 1990s, Nokia outrivaled the traditional telecommunications companies Motorola and Ericsson by introducing innovative products that allowed personalization and gaming, and by exploiting new technologies which created businesses that didn’t exist before, such as ringtones. Once the dot-com bubble had burst and 3G licence bidding had driven the industry into a downturn, Nokia faced new competition. Microsoft challenged Nokia in software, and Samsung and LG in hardware. Yet, Nokia was thriving as the competition heated up. It wasn’t enough, because the biggest disruption in mobile communications was yet to come – the Internet.

After Apple introduced the iPhone, Google gave away an open-source operating system for smartphones, and Skype generated revenues from a free telephone service, it wasn’t enough for Nokia just to crank out products for the vast Indian market or tailor phones for AT&T or Vodafone. The industry had changed irrevocably. Whereas people in established markets wanted to access their favorite social networking services like Facebook or Twitter using a mobile device, people in emerging markets needed their first e-mail accounts. That’s where Nokia’s strategic Internet service Ovi came in.

Behind the Screen unfolds the stories of businesses and technologies that Nokia created and turned into global successes or into miserable failures. It might be impossible to replicate Nokia’s success, but the stories offer valuable nuggets on how to thrive in global markets.

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Contents

1. Nokia’s Secret Code
2. Jorma Ollila’s Bet on Mobile Phones
3. A Crisis That Shaped Nokia’s Strategy
4. Inventing the Ultimate Network Computer
5. Beeping Birth of a Billion-Dollar Business
6. Wireless Internet Filled with Unwanted Bits
7. Survival of the Smartest
8. Battle for the Soul of the Mobile Phone
9. There’s No Business like Game Business
10. Who’s the Customer – Carrier or Consumer?
11. The Most Trusted Brand is a Desirable Employer
12. Nokia Networks Was Positioned for Success with GSM Technology
13. Marketing Mobile Phones in Remote Villages
14. The Greenest Electronics Company
15. It’s About Real People and Real Places

Reviews and Media References

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