BUSINESSWEEK ONLINE : JANUARY 22, 2001 ISSUE
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY Nokia's New Firmament THE BRIGHT SIDE... -- Nokia is the world's fifth-most valuable brand, ahead of Sony, Nike, and Mercedes-Benz. -- It makes nearly one-third of all cell phones sold, enjoying huge economies of scale. -- Its handset operating margins are 20%, compared with 5% for Motorola and -30% for Ericcson. -- Nokia's strong management team has come through many crises unscathed. -- It has global relationships with all the major phone companies. -- It has world-class research, design, and engineering teams. ...AND THE DARK -- The European market for the current generation of handsets is nearly saturated. -- The cellular market is struggling with the failure of early mobile-Internet software, called WAP. -- Nokia's key customers, Europe's telcos, are $125 billion in debt, incurred to pay for 3G licenses. -- Investors are running from 3G and telcos are seeing credit ratings fall. -- Nokia will likely be late in 3G phones and in an earlier Net-enabled format called GPRS. -- In handsets, Nokia faces well-capitalized Japanese rivals. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ BACK TO TOP					RELATED ITEMS Is Nokia's Star Dimming? TABLE: Nokia's New Firmament CHART: Nokia Isn't the Biggest...But It's Growing Fast...And Profits Are Strong Motorola Can't Seem to Get out of Its Own Way CHART: Back to Square One INTERACT E-Mail to Business Week Online

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