Industry analysts are blaming poor sales records on the increasing competition between mobile phone brands and add that the days of mobile phone export growth are over.
However, if the new N8 model proves to be a worldwide success, it would bring more work to the Nokia plant in Salo, and to a number of subcontractors in Finland. The company's biggest problem is its poor success on the other side of the Atlantic.
It is especially seeking to regain some of the lost market share in America where Nokia’s handset popularity took a nose dive recently. It dropped from being one of the top ranking mobile phone brands to a dismal sixth place.
Jyrki Ali-Yrkkö from The Research Institute of the Finnish Economy (ETLA) says that mobile phone exports have been slowing down for several years now. “For example, there are hardly any mobile phones exported to China anymore. Only two years ago Chinese mobile phone exports were worth around tens of millions per month. Now this kind of trade does not exist anymore.”
The new smartphone by Nokia will not change the downward trend in mobile phone exports according to Ali-Yrkkö. However, if the N8 is successful it might liven up the situation in the Nokia plant in Salo and increase work for a number of subcontractors. This could mean that as much as 60 000 jobs might be available, if N8 succeeds in the international mobile phone markets.