Nokia name to return to smartphones in bet on brand’s power

Bloomberg

The Nokia brand is set to return to smartphones two years after the Finnish company sold its handset business amid competition from the iPhone and Android devices.
Nokia Oyj will license its brand to a Helsinki-based company run by former Nokia executives to bring new mobile phones and tablets to the market. HMD Global Oy plans investments topping $500 million. Nokia won’t have a financial stake in the venture, though it’s set to collect fees from brand licensing and intellectual property. The venture is a bet that shoppers will remember and embrace a brand that almost disappeared from the consumer market after Apple Inc.’s iPhone and devices running Google’s Android operating system were introduced in 2007. Nokia once dominated global smartphone sales before the U.S. rivals took over the market with touch screens and innovative new features.
Nokia exited the handset business in 2014 by selling assets to Microsoft Corp.