Nokia announced plans to outsource its Symbian software activities to Accenture and shed 7,000 jobs across its operations. The preliminary agreement with Accenture will see the company take over around 3,000 Nokia employees and provide Symbian-based software development and support services to Nokia for future smartphones. Accenture acquired already in October 2009 Nokia's professional services unit that provides engineering and support of the Symbian OS to handset makers and service providers. The companies expect a final agreement on the new deal by this summer and the transfer of employees by year-end. The deal affects employees located in China, Finland, India, the UK and the US. They will initially work on Symbian for Nokia, and over time as Nokia phases out Symbian phones, the staff will be retrained and deployed for other services. The agreement also includes plans for Accenture to provide mobility software, business and operational services around the Windows Phone platform to Nokia and other ecosystem participants. Accenture would become a preferred partner for Nokia's smartphone development activities, as well as a preferred provider of services. In addition, Nokia announced plans to cut 4,000 jobs across its global operations as part of the earlier announced target to cut EUR 1 billion in costs at its Devices & Services division by the end of 2013. The majority of the cuts will come in Denmark, Finland and the UK. The plan will see Nokia consolidate its research and product development sites; this will include the expansion of some sites and the contraction or closure of others. The job cuts will take place in phases, mainly through 2012 and based on planned product roll-outs and the ongoing development of Nokia phones based on Windows. Affected staff will be offered a variety of assitance, from individual re-employment support and re-training to making investments to promote new ventures and partnerships. No details on the financial cost of the restructuring were announced.
