Nokia to cut 4,000 jobs worldwide

[April 27, 2011]  HELSINKI (AP) -- Nokia Corp. said Wednesday that it will lay off 4,000 people worldwide by the end of 2012 as it strives to cut costs amid stiff competition from top smartphone rivals.

Most of the job cuts will be in Denmark, Finland and Britain, the company said, adding that talks with employees had already begun.

Nokia also announced that it will transfer some 3,000 employees worldwide to Accenture as it shifts the development of the Symbian platform, used in Nokia cellphones, to the global technology and outsourcing company.

Nokia says those employees, located in China, Finland, India, Britain and the United States, will continue to develop the software and services for Nokia and "over time, Accenture and Nokia will seek opportunities to retrain and redeploy transitioned employees."

Nokia's share price jumped more than 3 percent to euro6.17 ($9.02) in arly afternoon trading in helsinki.

The announcements came as Nokia, with 13,000 employees in Finland, had called workers for internal meetings in several cities for briefings about company strategy as it begins a new partnership with Microsoft Corp.

In a push to challenge rivals like Apple and Google, Nokia and Microsoft announced in February that they are joining forces in an increasingly competitive environment.

Nokia continues to stiff competition from Research in Motion's Blackberry, Apple's iPhone and Google's Android at the top end of the smartphone market. It has said it plans to cut operating expenses by euro1 billion ($1.5 billion) by 2013.

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Online:

http://www.nokia.com/

[Associated Press]

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