Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo wants to take Nokia into Internet business

"If the iPod had been invented in Germany, it would not have been a success"

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By Anni Lassila
     
      Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo started as President and CEO of Nokia with a bang in June. Before the end of the month, he had managed to agree with Siemens on a merger of the network operations of the two companies, and to drop separate production of the CDMA telephones, which are popular in the United States. At the end of the year, Nokia surprised its many doubters with the best quarterly result ever.
      However, Kallasvuo is a temperate sort of person who does not want to overemphasise the past.
      "Business is constant slight improvement, and it would be good if we did not have to take very big steps. Undoubtedly, there have been quite a few of these big things that arose last year", Kallasvuo said in an interview with Helsingin Sanomat on Friday.
     
What is most revolutionary from Nokia's point of view is that the company decided last year to embark on a completely new business. In addition to mobile telephones, Nokia plans to sell services via the Internet, such as music, and various kinds of services linked with global positioning. Last year the company reported on a number of corporate deals linked with its Internet business, and more could be in store.
      Nokia's own music download store is expected to open in the coming months.
      "We're working on it, but it will come. We are going into this business in a way that is appropriate to us, and which also does not cause problems for our clientele", Kallasvuo says.
      In his view, being able to carry the Internet in a mobile phone helps diversify the use of a number of different Internet communities. These include the IRC Gallery in Finland, and YouTube around the world, which have become immensely popular.
     
Kallasvuo's rise to the helm of Nokia has been reflected in the company's organisation. Many Nokia workers have changed job descriptions. Already before he actually started, Kallasvuo had an influence on the choice of several new members of the Board of Directors.
      With the changes, Kallasvuo has wanted to change Nokia's orientation more toward customers and partners.
      "In a big company, such as Nokia, what easily happens is that the focus starts to turn inward. I have sought to greatly emphasise that we need to turn our attention outward. Meetings with outsiders need to be given priority over meetings with our own people", he explains.
      Kallasvuo has put a special focus on the United States, where he spends a quarter of the time that he works. The emphasis on the USA might appear to be somewhat obsessive, when viewed from outside, because the efforts have yielded such weak results.
      "No, it is not an obsession, but we have to emphasise it, because there is so much to win there. The United States is also important, because the trends in this field are created there. I would say that if the Apple iPod music player had been invented in Germany, it would never have become the success that it is", Kallasvuo says.
      He does not admit to feeling any envy over the sensation that the launch of the Apple iPhone caused a couple of weeks ago. "Naturally it would be good if Nokia could achieve something like that. But the great attention that it got indicates that we are operating in an inspiring and interesting field."
     
Some of Nokia's greatest challenges for the near future are the implementation of the Siemens merger, and reaching agreement on the issue of patents with the US company Qualcomm. Kallasvuo says that Nokia's starting point is that the Siemens merger should be carried out in spite of the bribery scandal that has hit Siemens.
      "There is an army of lawyers working on the matter."
      Negotiations with Qualcomm, which controls many mobile telephone patents, are at a very intense phase, says Kallasvuo. No mediator has been taken into the talks, contrary to what the Qualcomm CEO has hinted.
      "I still believe that we will come to an agreement", Kallasvuo insists.
     
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 27.1.2007


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Announcing record result, Nokia reiterates faith in Siemens deal (26.1.2007)

ANNI LASSILA / Helsingin Sanomat
anni.lassila@hs.fi