Finland’s RIM, Nokia, is laying off 10,000 employees as It’s Windows Phone strategy is sputters. Via the San Francisco Chronicle:
Nokia cut its earnings forecast for the second time this year and said it will reduce as many as 10,000 jobs and shut production and research sites in Chief Executive Officer Stephen Elop’s biggest overhaul.
The job cuts, 3,700 of which will take place in Finland, amount to almost a fifth of the total excluding a joint venture with Siemens AG. Elop had already announced more than 10,000 job cuts across the company. He said in April that Nokia would speed up a cost-cut program and take further actions if needed.
“This is harder than we thought and we’re having to make deeper changes,” Elop said today on a conference call. He said Nokia has enough net cash to go through the transition and “the scope of today’s changes is designed to ensure this remains true.”
While cutting jobs saves money, it doesn’t cure Nokia’s core problem: Who wants to buy their phones? The high end is dominated by Apple, the low end is dominated by cheap Android devices. Only sustained support from Microsoft could squeeze them into the latter market, one with virtually no profit. Like RIM, it’s too late.
