Nokia handsets are being revived by HMD Global, a private equity-backed firm led by former employees of the Finnish company. In 1985 Nokia launched its first mobile phone, the Mobira Talkman, but it was 1987’s Cityman which shot to fame when pictured in use by Mikhail Gorbachev. By 1998, Nokia had overtaken mobile phone pioneer Motorola to become the bestselling global mobile phone brand, manufacturing its 100-millionth phone by December that year, with revenues of $20bn (then £13bn) and 55,000 staff by the year 2000. Nokia launched the world’s first smartphone in 1996 – the Nokia 9000 Communicator – and a series of popular smartphones using its Symbian operating system followed in the early 2000s. Microsoft discontinued the Nokia brand for mobile phones in November 2014.

Source: The Guardian August 16, 2017 18:45 UTC