Nokia

Nokia is the No. 1 mobile phone maker in the world, capturing some 40 percent of the market share.

Headquartered in Espoo, Finland, the company was founded in 1865 with roots in paper, rubber and cables. It has 123,006 employees and is placed 88th in the 2008 Fortune Global 500 list.

Nokia makes a wide range of mobile devices, as well as provides equipment and services for communications networks through Nokia Siemens Networks, its joint venture with Siemens.

In November, Japanese daily Yomiuri Shimbun reported that Nokia plans to roll out mobile phone services in Japan in the spring of 2009, and is expected to rent lines from NTT Docomo.

For its fiscal third quarter that ended Sep. 30, the Finnish handset giant reported a 30 percent year-on-year dip in profits to 1.09 billion euros (US$1.46 billion). It has also downgraded its outlook for the fourth quarter of 2008, and revised its shipments forecast for the entire year from 1.26 billion units to 1.24 billion.