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As if slashing 450 jobs while it tries to focus on fewer services, wasnt enough, Nokia today confirmed that it will be closing down an office outside of Seattle, which handles the Ovi Share service. A year ago it planned to develop a major headquarters for its push into online entertainment and community services.
The closure signifies just how much the handset maker is scaling back plans to become a company that makes money through advertising and content sales, in addition to phone sales. The Kirkland, Wash.-based office was home to Ovi’s Share service, which was a media-sharing site, much like Flickr, YouTube or Picasa. Nokia picked Kirkland after acquiring Twango, a media-sharing start-up that was based in the area. Last year, it secured a lease to fill two floors, comprising of 25,000 square feet in an office that they were remodeling, so it had a Nordic feel. At the time, the office had 51 employees, but they were hiring up to 125, according to The Seattle Times.
Nokia is not saying much about the closure, which was reported first by TechFlash. Nokia declined to say when the office might close or how many employees will be laid off, but that the responsibilities of the Kirkland operation will be shifted to “nearby” Nokia offices in Bellevue, Vancouver, B.C., and California. In a formal statement issued today, the company referred to the announcement about trimming investments in services last week. It added: “While these changes do not have major impact to our site structure across North America, there is some opportunity to consolidate some of the work being done at this smaller site into other offices we have in the Seattle area. We have not announced specifics beyond that.”
But clearly, one area where the company believes it can save is its Ovi Share services. Last week, it said in a release: “We will also integrate more third party image sharing and social networking sites to the image capture and sharing features on our devices.” In particular, that sounds like Ovi Share services will be scaled back to make room for outside parties to participate in Nokia’s content strategy. Perhaps, ones that have more of a following, like YouTube or Flickr. Whether it means that Share will gradually be phased out, a spokesman declined to comment, other than to say that services remain a key part of the company’s roadmap.
Photo Credit: Photo is of Nokia’s main lobby in Kirkland, and was posted to a public Ovi Share account.
[Via: mocoNews.net]
Clinton is currently based in New Delhi, India and is executive editor for UnleashThePhones. He is responsible for all editorial decisions, and covers all forms of Mobile things.
Cj is addicted to caffeine, social media, and technology. Always up for a good conversation, you can reach him through the contact form, his website, on Google Plus 
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