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[Justin Bailey]

http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/050111/finland_nokia_layoffs_3.html

HELSINKI, Finland (AP) -- Nokia Corp., the world's biggest mobile phone maker, said Tuesday it plans to lay off "a few hundred" research and development workers globally, including up to 250 in Finland, in a move to cut costs.

The exact number of layoffs, which are focused in Nokia's multimedia division and mostly in Finland and Germany, will be decided later, said Kari Tuutti, head of the division's information department.

The multimedia division, founded a year ago, has been responsible for developing Nokia's camera and smart phone models 7160 and 6600, as well as the N-Gage games console.

No surprises here, although it sucks for the workers.

 

[radioheadrule83]

Maybe they can partner with someone now.

 

[human5892]

If I worked in that department, I would've began job searching the instant I saw the N-Gage prototype.

 

[Doogdogg]

http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/050111/finland_nokia_layoffs_3.html


No surprises here, although it sucks for the workers.

No regrets. They should've done their homework.

 

[cybamerc]

Mobile phones aren't suited for games. Hopefully they can the N-Gage altogether. And hopefully other companies will learn from Nokia's mistake and not try something similar.

 

[TTP]

Probably they saw this and decided it's all over.

The untitled game is very similar to SEGA's Super Monkey Ball series, where you control a spheroid and race through a series of suspended mazes. But you don't use the face buttons to control this game. The KV3600 has an interior motion sensor that detects how you hold the phone. Tilt it to the side and the ball rolls that direction. Pretty cool.

Pretty cool indeed.

 

[Phoenix]

Goes hand in hand with this news

The Entertainment & Leisure Software Publishers Association sales charts will no longer reflect N-Gage sales. From the article: "The N-Gage chart, though still produced, is of little interest to anyone. Sales of the machine and its software have failed to make any impact on the market at all. We still keep sales charted and are available on monthly, quarterly and annual reports, though we have dropped the platform from the ELSPA chart following a lack of interest."

 

[Deku]

Nokia's strategy was interesting but it just made no sense.

Cellphone gaming works because the most popular games are simple and made to run on any conceivable spec. Embedding the N-gage hardware into every Nokia cellphone seemed at one time, like a powerful trojan horse that might have given Nokia a large captive audience overnight.

I'm not sure how far they plan to continue pushing it, but the N-gage chipset wasn't exactly top of the line when it was released and it has aged rather rapidly. Without any key franchises, it looks like to play a footnote in handheld history if Nokia decides to continue pushing them into their future cellphones.

 

[Deg]

This news is being misread. The 6600 has been a huge success! 7610 has done very well too. N-Gage is just one of many models.

This has more to do with putting more effort into markets outside of Europe where they are pretty much as big as they can be.

 

[FeedMeAStrayCat]

Heh. The N-Gage was doomed as soon as... umm..

oh well forget it, I'm too tired to make up some clever joke about the N-Gage..

 

[FortNinety]

Anyone got those quotes handy of how no one wants to play GBA again from the Nokia rep?

Hmm... did I just open the window for pro-PSP trolling here?