Nokia has created a new solutions unit as it aims to reinvent itself as a services company.
The new unit will aim to integrate mobile internet services and the handset segment to take on smartphone rivals Apple and RIM.
CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo said that the company’s operations were being “fine-tuned” to increase speed and flexibility and innovation in addressing consumer needs.
“The new unit will better enable us to deliver not only first-class devices and compelling consumer services, but also complete solutions that integrate the two seamlessly,” he said.
Earlier this week he told the Financial Times that he wanted to increase the services business six-fold.
Kallasvuo said he was seeking to instigate a profound cultural change at Nokia through a heavy push on “solutions” or handsets that come with user-friendly services on them. “It is a big change, it’s very challenging,” he said
Nokia is still the world’s biggest handset-maker by volume, but its sales margin has fallen from 20.1% to 12.2% in the past two years.
The announcement of the new solutions unit follows the entry into the netbook market with the Booklet device and the unveiling of a new mobile banking service.
Nokia has made expensive acquisitions in the mapping, gaming and content space and invested heavily in music content and an app store, but these have met with a tepid response from consumers.
Nokia has forecast that by 2012 it would have 300 million users of its services, such as music and maps. It currently sits at 53.9 million.
Alberto Torres, currently head of the devices category management division, will head up the new solutions unit when it launches on October 1.