10 Facts about Nokia and Microsoft buys Nokia's handset unit for $7.2 bn

Nokia - one the world's most trusted and well-known mobile phone brand, today announced that it has signed an agreement with Microsoft Corporation, to sell its devices and services business, including its entry-level Asha brand and mapping services.

Here are 10 interesting facts about one of the world's most loved phone brand:

1. Today, well known for its phones, Nokia orginally started off as a paper production company in 1865 in Finland. The company was established by mining engineer Fredrik Idestam on the banks of the Tammerkoski rapids in the town of Tampere. In 1868, Idestam built a second mill near the town of Nokia. This mill was then transformed into a share company, in 1871 by Idestam, with the help of his close friend Leo Mechelin. They renamed it the Nokia Company.

 

2. The name 'Nokia' is derived from the river Nokianvirta, on the banks of which the company was established. Nokianvirta itself was named after an old Finnish word, which originally meant sable.

 

3. Before moving their business into electronics in 1960, Nokia Company expanded to working with rubber, electricity, and cables. Nokia rubber boots become a bona fide design classic, still on sale to this day – though the company no longer makes them.

 

4. The well-known 'Nokia tune', which was the most commonly known indentifying feature of the phone is said to be based on 'Gran Vals', a 19th century guitar work of a Spanish musician, Francisco Tarrega. This work was well known as the Nokia tune, since people found the original name hard to remember. Around 1998, Nokia also renamed the tune as the 'Nokia tune' in their phones.

 

5. Nokia is very careful about not including the number 4 in any Nokia handset model that is retailing in Asia, as the number is considered to be unlucky by many in this particular region.

 

6. According to the Fortune list 2006 survey, Nokia was the 20th most Admirable company in the World.

 

7. Nokia smartphones today pride themselves on the quality of their camera. It is therefore interesting to know that Nokia is currently the world's largest digital camera manufacturer. The sales of the company's camera-equipped phones have exceeded those of any conventional camera manufacturer.

 

8. The world's first commercial GSM call was made in 1991 in Helsinki over a Nokia-supplied network, by Prime Minister of Finland Harri Holkeri, using a Nokia phone.

 

9. It is popularly believed that the 'Special' tone available in Nokia phones, as a SMS tone, is actually Morse code for SMS. The 'Ascending' SMS tone is Morse code for 'Connecting People', which is Nokia's tagline. 

 

10. The world's first satellite call was made in 1994, using a Nokia GSM handset. 

Two years after hitching its fate to Microsoft’s Windows Phone software, Nokia collapsed into the arms of the US software giant on Tuesday, agreeing to sell its main handset business for euro 5.44 billion ($7.2 billion). Nokia will continue to make networking equipment and hold patents. Its Canadian boss Stephen Elop, who ran Microsoft’s business software division before jumping to Nokia in 2010, will return to the US firm as head of itsmobile devices business — a Trojan horse, according to disgruntled Finnish media.

Elop is even being discussed as a possible replacement for Microsoft’s retiring CEO Steve Ballmer, who is trying to remake the U.S. firm into a gadget and services company like Apple before he departs. “It’s very clear to me that rationally this is the right step going forward,” Elop told reporters, though he added he also felt “a great deal of sadness” over the outcome.