Nokia (NYSE:NOK) will use its Oct. 22 Nokia World event in Abu Dhabi to announce at least six new devices, including at least two new Lumia smartphones running Microsoft's (NASDAQ:MSFT) Windows Phone software, according to a The Verge report.
The report, citing unnamed sources familiar with Nokia's roadmap, said Nokia will announce a "large range" of different form factors in the devices that it will unveil. Speculation has so far centered on a 6-inch phablet, which reportedly will be the Lumia 1520. Additionally, reports have indicated Nokia is working on a 10.1-inch Windows RT tablet with a Lumia design and LTE capabilities, which may be dubbed the 2520.
A Nokia spokeswoman declined to comment on the report from The Verge.
Meanwhile, a furor continues to swirl over the $25.4 million bonus that former Nokia CEO Stephen Elop will receive when he moves back to Microsoft, which is expected to happen sometime in early 2014. Elop stepped down as Nokia CEO following the announcement earlier this month of Microsoft's proposed $7.2 billion acquisition of Nokia's handset business; Elop is currently serving as executive vice president of Nokia's devices and services unit.
Elop's possible bonus, which includes a "management short term cash incentive" worth $5.7 million and stock awards worth $19.7 million, has sparked anger in Nokia's native Finland, where the proposed sale of Nokia's devices business to Microsoft has hurt the country's pride. Finland's economy minister, Jan Vapaavuori, reportedly said of the bonus: "I find it difficult to understand the merits of this bonus."
The bonus was disclosed in proxy filings made public Sept. 19; 70 percent of the bonus will be paid by Microsoft, with Nokia paying the rest. Nokia's chairman and interim CEO, Risto Siilasmaa, initially told the Finnish newspaper Helisingin Sanomat that Elop's contract was "essentially the same" as the one Nokia's previous CEO, Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, had received. On Tuesday, after the newspaper dug into Securities and Exchange Commission filings, Siilasmaa backtracked and said he had spoken in error.
In fact, as Forbes notes, under his 2010 contract, Elop was entitled to an immediate share price performance bonus in the event of a "change of control" situation, such as Nokia selling its devices business to Microsoft. Siilasmaa said that Nokia's legal department had committed "a working place accident" of not noticing the discrepancy. "This is a very unfortunate thing about the case, which, moreover, raises a lot of emotions," Siilasmaa said on Tuesday.
Helisingin Sanomat also reported, without naming its sources, that Siilasmaa has urged Elop to waive or reduce the bonus, but that Elop reportedly pushed back against that idea because he is getting a divorce from his wife, Nancy. Under Finnish law, she would be entitled to half the bonus, the report said, and he would have to convince her to take a reduced portion if the award was reduced. Siilasmaa declined to comment, the report said.
For more:
- see this The Verge article
- see this Helisingin Sanomat article (translated via Google Translate)
- see this ZDNet article
- see this BBC News article
- see this Forbes article
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