Nokia to ax 285 jobs in Finland

[February 08, 2010]  HELSINKI (AP) -- Nokia Corp. said Monday it will lay off 285 people in Finland, as the world's largest mobile phone maker strives to cut costs and streamline operations.

In November, Nokia axed 550 jobs in Japan, Denmark and Finland at research and development units that globally employ 17,000 workers.

The latest layoffs, at the Salo handset unit where it has 2,200 workers, are part of a drive "to further increase production speed and efficiency for a growing smart phone market," Nokia said.

Nokia will introduce new, specialized manufacturing methods at the plant, and also will halt the temporary layoffs of hundreds of personnel.

"Salo is a crucial part of Nokia's global manufacturing network," said Juha Putkiranta, from Nokia's markets division. "Our aim is to ensure the plant's future competitiveness and its special role as one best suited to the production of high value mobile devices."

Nokia said it wants production in Salo to be "focused fully on the high-value smartphone market, especially in Europe."

Last month, Nokia surprised markets when it announced that its global market share of smart phones jumped to 40 percent, from 35 percent in the previous quarter.

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[Associated Press]

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