Nokia has released a new promotional video encouraging users to switch from their “monochromatic” iPhones to a colourful new Lumia on the same day reports surfaced the troubled Finnish phone giant is in the process of selling its corporate headquarters.
According to a report in the Finnish newspaper Helsingin Sanomat, republished by WPCentral, former Nokia staff member Juha-Pekka Helminen says the value of the complex in Espoo, Finland is worth between $US258 million and $US387 million.
After initial reports about a possible sale leaked from staff members, the company confirmed that it is planning to sell the complex without relocating as part of an ongoing cost-cutting strategy.
The cost-cutting strategy will see the company shed 10,000 jobs from its global workforce and recently resulted in the closure of its production plant in Salo, Finland, marking the end of large-scale mobile phone production in Western Europe.
The news also comes amid growing criticism of the performance of CEO Stephen Elop, particularly from disgruntled former executives and shareholders, including the decision to abandon Nokia’s MeeGo smartphone platform in favour of Microsoft’s Windows Phone. It was revealed earlier this week that the outright sale price of the company’s flagship Windows Phone smartphone, the Lumia 920, is higher than Samsung’s flagship Galaxy S3 smartphone.
The news also comes a day after it was revealed Jolla, a start-up formed by former executives and engineers from Nokia’s MeeGo-N9 unit, has successfully raised €200 million ($US258 million) from a variety of telecommunications industry players and plans to announce its first smartphones next month.
So can multi-coloured Lumias save the day? Check out the video below:
{qtube vid:= Zjrv9-Botx8}
Andrew Sadauskas is a former journalist at SmartCompany and a former editor of TechCompany.
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