Nokia made it clear, when it publicly announced it would adopt Microsoft’s Windows Phone platform last year, that it was banking everything on the fledgling operating system and it would seem that the Finnish phone manufacturer is planning to stick to its word — through thick and, in this case, thin. The company today announced plans to sell off its Vertu luxury handset business as well as eliminate 10,000 jobs by the end of next year, or about one- fifth of its global workforce.
"These planned reductions are a difficult consequence of the intended actions we believe we must take to ensure Nokia's long-term competitive strength," company chief executive, Stephen Elop said in a statement.
Even in the middle of this downward spiral, Nokia also revealed that it is investing even more resources in the Lumia phone line. Specifically, Nokia recently announced that it plans to acquire the developers, technologies and intellectual property of Swedish-based mobile imaging technology company, Scalado. The goal is to enhance future Lumia devices’ imaging capabilities in the hopes of increasing sales.
"Nokia has been working with Scalado for more than ten years and they've contributed to many of our leading imaging applications," said Jo Harlow, executive vice president, Smart Devices at Nokia, in a press release. "This transaction would enable us to combine our leadership in camera devices with their expertise in imaging, helping people move beyond taking pictures to capturing moments and emotions and then reliving them in many different ways."
While it may seem silly for Nokia to continue embracing what seems like a failure with Windows Phone, it should be noted that Nokia’s decline in market share started before the company started shipping Lumia devices. Furthermore, analysts suggest that Windows Phone might end up a success after all, possibly even topping the iPhone’s market share by 2016.
Besides, Nokia’s Lumia phones are solid devices. Even Siri agrees — or, at least, it did.
Edited by
Brooke Neuman 
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