Few inventions have revolutionized the workings of modern society like the cell phone. Since the 1980s, when cell phones were huge and cumbersome and were hardly regarded as more than a status symbol among the yuppie culture, cell phones became most likely the single most ubiquitous personal electronic device on the planet. As of 2009, there are approximately 4.6 billion mobile phone subscriptions across the world – accounting for over two thirds of the population.
Provided for by a number of companies invested in cell phone technology – Motorola, LG, and Samsung included – Nokia cellphones account for a substantial majority of the world’s mobile phones. In 2007 for instance, Nokia cell phones accounted for 440 million mobile phone subscriptions – 40% of all global mobile phone sales that year. In May of 2007, the company declared that its 1100 series of Nokia cell phones had sold over 200 million units since its release in 2003, rendering it both the most popular mobile phone of them all, and also the best selling consumer electronic.
Though Nokia unlocked smart phones are what most people commonly associate with the brand name, the Nokia corporation has persisted since long before the telecommunications era. The company can be traced back to its origins as a groundwood pulp mill built in Finland by Fredrik Idestam in 1865. Three years later, he built another mill on the Nokianvirta river near the town of Nokia, which later gave the company its name after the firm was relabeled and transformed into a share company. With the aid of his partner Leo Mechelin, the company soon moved into the budding electricity business around the turn of the century.
Together with jointly possessed companies Finnish Rubber Works and Finnish Cable Works, Nokia flourished during the first half of the 20th century, even by means of both World Wars, until eventually all three companies sooner or later joined to form the Nokia Corporation as it stands today in 1967. For some time, the new company worked in several industries all associated to each of its component’s specialties: rubber products for footwear and automobiles, cables, and electronics.
Eventually the company became more invested in telecommunications and having found a niche for accomplishment there, eventually abandoned most of its other pursuits – a move that would eventually steer to their Nokia cell phones holding the place of dominion over the mobile phone market that they possess now. During the 80s and 90s, Nokia would eventually help develop GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications). This later became the typical by which Europe and much of the rest of the world would make use of mobile phone communications. It was the first standard to enable both voice traffic and digital information (i.e. text messaging) as well as worldwide roaming.
