Nokia is simplifying the structure of its Devices & Services division in order to speed up innovation and software development. The result is the two new units Mobile Phones for standard handsets and Mobile Solutions for mobile computers running on MeeGo and smartphones using Symbian. This goes a step further than the restructuring announced in October 2009, as Mobile Solutions will be split into separate smartphone and and mobile computer units. A number of management changes will also occur, and the unit heads will have seats on the management committee.
It's very tempting to say more is needed than a new structure to improve Nokia's performance. The company has still not come up with a good answer to the Apple iPhone, which first hit the market in 2008. Nokia is not doing badly with smartphones, as the Q1 figures show (market share rose to 41 percent according to Nokia's own figures, or slightly less according to market researchers), but the growth is largely due to one country: China. If the current trend continues, China will be its biggest market within a couple quarters. In North America and Europe, where smartphones are taking off, Nokia is still losing share to Apple and others.
It would not be the first time that Nokia reverses a loss of market share, but this time the new unit heads have a very tough task ahead of them. The question is whether Nokia couldn't have taken a more radical approach, given that all the 'new' managers have already been working for years at the company.
