Nokia is headquartered in Espoo, Finland, a city that takes less than 15 minutes to get to via bus from the center of Helsinki. The building they occupy is a stunning architectural achievement made out of steel, glass, and ample quantities of wood. According to Reuters, Nokia is so desperate for cash right now that they’re considering selling the building. It’s estimated that the property is worth between 200 million Euros and 300 million Euros. Does this mean Nokia is planning to leave Finland? No. In fact, Nokia probably isn’t even going to leave the building at all. They’ll likely sell it to someone who will then rent it out to them. This sort of arrangement means Nokia can spend less time worrying about real estate, which is a good thing, but it also means that Nokia can decide to leave the building whenever they want.
How should we really interpret this news? The headlines circulating around the internet right now saying Nokia is going to sell the company’s headquarters don’t exactly increase what little confidence people had left in the company. Betting on Windows Phone back in February 2011 is increasingly looking like a mistake. We’re going to have Nokia’s Q3 financial results in roughly two weeks, and the numbers many analysts and industry experts are going to be paying attention to are how much money Nokia has in the bank, how many Lumia devices were sold, how many Symbian devices were sold, and how much money is Nokia receiving from patent royalties.
Will Nokia be around by the end of next year? Probably, but it’s not going to be in the same shape that it was back in the good old days. There’s still so much we don’t know about Windows Phone 8, including this new rumor that says Microsoft is going to enter the smartphone game. If it’s true … what role, if any, will Nokia have in the future?