Nokia cuts workers, consolidates dev platforms, posts profit

Nokia on Thursday made a bevy of moves it hopes will make it more competitive in the smartphone market. The changes mark the first efforts of new CEO Stephen Elop to revamp the company.

The first item covers the technical area. Nokia, which noted it was looking for "greater clarification and simplicity in its developer offering," announced plans to make its Qt framework the only software development platform it supports. Nokia also plans to support HTML5.

According to Nokia, the decision to focus on Qt will ensure that apps will be compatible with Symbian as well as its MeeGo operating system. Qt will support HTML5 (statement).

Along with that focus comes layoffs. Nokia said it will cut 1,800 jobs as it simplifies its Symbian smartphone group. The idea is that Nokia will have more streamline application development and overall product group for its Symbian phones. Nokia is also focusing its services group on Ovi services.

Separately, Nokia reported a 529 million euro profit for the third quarter. Sales rose 4.7 percent to 10.27 billion euro. The company said it sees its market share falling a little in 2010. Nokia shipped 110.4 million phones in the third quarter, up 2 percent from a year ago. The company shipped 26.5 million smartphones in the quarter.

Elop, who has been on the job five weeks, said the company has the tools and talent to navigate "a remarkably disruptive time" and will improve strategy and operations to compete.

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