Nokia to cut 600 jobs by Jan. 1

Maturing wireless markets and slowing growth are causing Nokia to make some organizational changes. The company announced today that it will be cutting about 600 jobs, primarily in its marketing and research units. The cuts will likely occur by Jan. 1, 2009.

Specifically, Nokia will cut 450 people from its Markets unit, of which about 100 will be in Finland. In addition, the Nokia Research Center, which specializes in long-term research activities, will reduce its staff by about 130 globally, 100 of those positions will be in Finland.  Finally, company will make some smaller workforce adjustments globally that it says will impact approximately 35 employees, all of which are in Finland.

Nokia will close its Turku, Finland, site by the end of January 2009 and relocate those jobs to Salo, Finland. The 220 employees that work in Turku will be relocated to jobs in Salo or other areas of Finland.

Despite the staff reductions, Nokia continues to churn out new phones. The handset maker introduced seven new low-end phones, most of which are aimed at the emerging markets. The phones range in price from $32 to $95.

For more:
- see this press release [1]
- see this press release [2]

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