• Nokia started in 1865 running a lumber mill in the southern Finnish town of Nokia
• It expanded slowly into rubber, making boots, cables, and phone lines
• In the early 1960s, thanks to its telecom connections, it began to dabble in early radio telephones
• By the mid-1980s, the company’s main achievements were as the chief supplier of toilet paper to Ireland and the world’s only manufacturer of studded winter bicycle tires
• In 1991 after the soviet block collapsed Nokia management considered selling off the mobile phone interests to cut costs
• The first GSM call was made in 1991 by the Prime Minister of Finland on a Nokia mobile phone
• Nokia gambled correctly on digital, manufacturing the first digital phone, and GSM, which was to become the dominant world standard
• Its brand was rated the sixth most valuable by Interbrand in 2005
• Today Nokia makes 3 out of every 10 mobile phones sold around the world

Labels: Business