The story appears on

Page A13

April 28, 2011

GET this page in PDF

Free for subscribers

View shopping cart

Related News

Home » Business » IT

Symbian moves to Accenture

NOKIA Oyj will transfer its Symbian software development to Accenture Plc as part of Chief Executive Officer Stephen Elop's plan to eliminate 7,000 jobs worldwide and switch to Microsoft Corp's system.

Accenture, the second-biggest technology-consulting company, will take on 3,000 Nokia workers in China, Finland, India, the UK and the United States by the end of this year, the companies said in a statement yesterday. Accenture will also work for Nokia on projects based on Windows Phone 7, the Microsoft platform that the Finnish company will adopt.

Espoo-based Nokia will also eliminate about 4,000 positions, mostly in Denmark, Finland and the UK, by the end of 2012 and consolidate research and product development sites. Elop, 47, is seeking to restore Nokia's smartphone prospects after deciding that its own Symbian and MeeGo systems couldn't keep up with Apple Inc's iPhone and Google Inc's Android, the fastest-growing platform for phones that can be used to surf the web and view movies.

"The big surprise is Accenture," Ben Wood, a London-based analyst at CCS Insight, said in a phone interview. "Nokia is moving quickly to transition Symbian out of the company in order to ensure complete focus on Windows Phone 7. This is the beginning of the long and painful journey."

Nokia's smartphone market share fell to 30.8 percent at the end of last year, 20 percentage points lower than the level at the iPhone's launch, according to researcher Gartner Inc.

First-quarter net income fell 1.4 percent to 344 million euros (US$504.82 million), Nokia said last week.


IT



 

Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.

沪公网安备 31010602000204号

Email this to your friend