1 00:00:04,160 --> 00:00:07,240 Speaker 1: Get in touch with technology with tech Stuff from half 2 00:00:07,240 --> 00:00:13,760 Speaker 1: stuff works dot com. Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. 3 00:00:13,760 --> 00:00:16,480 Speaker 1: I'm your host, Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer here 4 00:00:16,480 --> 00:00:18,680 Speaker 1: at hell Stuff Works and I love all things tech. 5 00:00:18,800 --> 00:00:21,960 Speaker 1: And in the last episode, I chronicled the year journey 6 00:00:22,040 --> 00:00:25,040 Speaker 1: of Nakia from a paper mill to a company that 7 00:00:25,120 --> 00:00:28,520 Speaker 1: was just starting to develop electronics. And before I get 8 00:00:28,560 --> 00:00:30,960 Speaker 1: into this, like I said in the last episode, I'm 9 00:00:31,000 --> 00:00:34,720 Speaker 1: pronouncing it Nakia. But of course people have said Nokia 10 00:00:35,000 --> 00:00:37,839 Speaker 1: or Nokia. There are a lot of different pronunciations for it. 11 00:00:38,040 --> 00:00:41,479 Speaker 1: I'm going with Nakia, and if it's wrong, it's wrong. 12 00:00:41,600 --> 00:00:44,519 Speaker 1: But I'm gonna try and be consistent. Today we'll pick 13 00:00:44,600 --> 00:00:47,520 Speaker 1: up with Nakia in the nineteen sixties and quickly make 14 00:00:47,560 --> 00:00:49,879 Speaker 1: our way up to how it helped define the cellular 15 00:00:49,920 --> 00:00:52,960 Speaker 1: phone age in the nineteen nineties, and then what happened 16 00:00:53,120 --> 00:00:56,800 Speaker 1: after that, because it was a pretty precipitous fall, but 17 00:00:56,880 --> 00:00:59,040 Speaker 1: it wasn't like it was just a steady climb either. 18 00:00:59,800 --> 00:01:04,320 Speaker 1: Up on the formation of the Nakia Corporation, businessmen named 19 00:01:04,480 --> 00:01:09,440 Speaker 1: Bjorn George Wilhelm Westerland became the first president and CEO 20 00:01:09,680 --> 00:01:12,560 Speaker 1: of Nakia. Now he began to look for ways to 21 00:01:12,640 --> 00:01:17,760 Speaker 1: expand into new fields like electronics in telecommunications. He also 22 00:01:17,840 --> 00:01:20,759 Speaker 1: encouraged the research and development departments in Nakia to work 23 00:01:20,760 --> 00:01:24,319 Speaker 1: on their own projects, something that Google would copy decades later, 24 00:01:24,640 --> 00:01:28,480 Speaker 1: sort of like that of your weekly time can be 25 00:01:28,520 --> 00:01:31,200 Speaker 1: dedicated to personal projects. It was similar in that way, 26 00:01:31,200 --> 00:01:35,679 Speaker 1: except not necessarily laid out specifically as twenty percent of 27 00:01:35,720 --> 00:01:39,200 Speaker 1: your time. But the whole idea was get smart people together, 28 00:01:39,400 --> 00:01:41,640 Speaker 1: let them work on things that they think are interesting, 29 00:01:41,720 --> 00:01:45,440 Speaker 1: and you might be able to benefit from that. Nakia 30 00:01:45,520 --> 00:01:49,040 Speaker 1: would diversify and begin investing in new businesses, nearly all 31 00:01:49,120 --> 00:01:52,280 Speaker 1: of which would cater to the Soviet Union's need for 32 00:01:52,320 --> 00:01:58,880 Speaker 1: electronics and robotics, including computers. Nakia also created manufacturing facilities 33 00:01:58,880 --> 00:02:03,000 Speaker 1: for scientific equipment, again for the Soviet Union. While the 34 00:02:03,120 --> 00:02:05,800 Speaker 1: U s s R. Was doing business with Finland, the 35 00:02:05,920 --> 00:02:10,120 Speaker 1: US was becoming increasingly agitated by the whole thing, because 36 00:02:10,160 --> 00:02:13,240 Speaker 1: this was during the Cold War between the United States 37 00:02:13,320 --> 00:02:16,000 Speaker 1: and the U. S s R. And America began to 38 00:02:16,080 --> 00:02:20,079 Speaker 1: let Nakia know that it was being watched carefully. Nakia 39 00:02:20,200 --> 00:02:23,520 Speaker 1: was importing components from the United States and then incorporating 40 00:02:23,520 --> 00:02:26,320 Speaker 1: them in products that there was ultimately selling in the 41 00:02:26,440 --> 00:02:29,480 Speaker 1: U S s R, which wasn't really helping things with 42 00:02:29,520 --> 00:02:31,760 Speaker 1: the U. S relations because the United States sort of 43 00:02:31,760 --> 00:02:34,519 Speaker 1: had this policy of let's not help the Soviets out 44 00:02:34,560 --> 00:02:38,160 Speaker 1: if we can possibly avoid it, and this created a 45 00:02:38,240 --> 00:02:43,360 Speaker 1: very high tense situation throughout the entire world, and Finland 46 00:02:43,600 --> 00:02:46,800 Speaker 1: in general and Nachia in particular, we're kind of straddling 47 00:02:46,840 --> 00:02:50,360 Speaker 1: the line a little bit. According to the newspaper Madras Courier, 48 00:02:50,800 --> 00:02:54,040 Speaker 1: Nakia was building computers for the Soviet Union by nineteen 49 00:02:54,160 --> 00:02:57,240 Speaker 1: seventy one. Now, I say according to the newspaper, because 50 00:02:57,320 --> 00:02:59,560 Speaker 1: it's actually pretty hard to find a lot of definitive 51 00:02:59,560 --> 00:03:03,919 Speaker 1: information in regarding Nakias products during this era. The website 52 00:03:03,960 --> 00:03:06,960 Speaker 1: itself is pretty generic when it comes to covering this. 53 00:03:07,040 --> 00:03:09,359 Speaker 1: It kind of talks about the founding of the company 54 00:03:09,360 --> 00:03:11,440 Speaker 1: as a paper mill and then jumps ahead into the 55 00:03:11,520 --> 00:03:14,600 Speaker 1: nineteen eighties, skipping a whole lot of stuff in the middle. 56 00:03:15,360 --> 00:03:19,560 Speaker 1: Jorn Westerland would retire as CEO in nineteen seventy seven, 57 00:03:19,919 --> 00:03:23,880 Speaker 1: and he was replaced by Kari and Tero Oswald Kairamo. 58 00:03:24,360 --> 00:03:28,120 Speaker 1: Kiamo had started at Nakia as an engineer in wood 59 00:03:28,240 --> 00:03:31,120 Speaker 1: processing back when the company was still heavily involved in 60 00:03:31,160 --> 00:03:35,640 Speaker 1: forestry industries. Like his predecessor, Karaimo wanted to grow Nakia 61 00:03:35,720 --> 00:03:40,800 Speaker 1: and acquire new businesses. He aggressively pursued new opportunities, sometimes 62 00:03:40,840 --> 00:03:44,880 Speaker 1: to the consternation of analysts. Some industry experts were worried 63 00:03:44,920 --> 00:03:48,600 Speaker 1: that Nakia was over extending itself, particularly with regards to 64 00:03:48,600 --> 00:03:53,160 Speaker 1: consumer electronics, which was already a crowded space with fierce 65 00:03:53,240 --> 00:03:57,000 Speaker 1: competition from the United States and Japanese companies. But that 66 00:03:57,080 --> 00:04:00,920 Speaker 1: did not stop Kairamo from pursuing them, and in nineteen 67 00:04:01,000 --> 00:04:04,320 Speaker 1: seventy nine, Knakia entered into a partnership with a Finish 68 00:04:04,440 --> 00:04:09,000 Speaker 1: television and electronics company called Solaura. Their joint venture was 69 00:04:09,040 --> 00:04:15,520 Speaker 1: called Mobira Oi, a radio telecommunications network and electronics brand. 70 00:04:15,920 --> 00:04:19,560 Speaker 1: Early radio phones were pretty limited, operating in the v 71 00:04:20,000 --> 00:04:23,800 Speaker 1: h F frequency range, the very high frequency range, and 72 00:04:23,920 --> 00:04:27,920 Speaker 1: requiring large antennas and hefty batteries, but this marked Knakia's 73 00:04:27,960 --> 00:04:33,000 Speaker 1: first steps into what would become cellular phone technology. In fact, 74 00:04:33,320 --> 00:04:35,560 Speaker 1: now is a good time to talk about cellular phone 75 00:04:35,560 --> 00:04:39,440 Speaker 1: technology in general. Prior to cellular phones, radio telephones were 76 00:04:39,480 --> 00:04:41,520 Speaker 1: pretty limited. This has to do with the physics of 77 00:04:41,640 --> 00:04:46,160 Speaker 1: radio signal transmissions as well as limitations on technology. Now, 78 00:04:46,200 --> 00:04:49,680 Speaker 1: maybe you've played with radios and wondered what elements determined 79 00:04:49,720 --> 00:04:52,080 Speaker 1: how far the radios can communicate with each other, like 80 00:04:52,120 --> 00:04:55,120 Speaker 1: if you've had walkie talkies, for example, And as it 81 00:04:55,160 --> 00:04:58,360 Speaker 1: turns out, there are several factors that determine how far 82 00:04:58,480 --> 00:05:01,680 Speaker 1: a radio can transmit signals. So let's start with some 83 00:05:01,720 --> 00:05:06,160 Speaker 1: basic facts about radio waves. The radio frequency spectrum is 84 00:05:06,200 --> 00:05:10,800 Speaker 1: a significant chunk of the overall electromagnetic spectrum. It ranges 85 00:05:10,839 --> 00:05:13,600 Speaker 1: on the low end with very low frequency signals, which 86 00:05:13,640 --> 00:05:15,440 Speaker 1: have a wavelength that can be as long as a 87 00:05:15,520 --> 00:05:19,600 Speaker 1: hundred kilometers or sixty two miles for one wave at 88 00:05:19,640 --> 00:05:22,919 Speaker 1: that wavelength. The radio signals frequency, as in the number 89 00:05:22,920 --> 00:05:26,480 Speaker 1: of cycles of waves that go past an arbitrary point 90 00:05:26,600 --> 00:05:31,040 Speaker 1: in space within a second, is three thousand cycles a second, 91 00:05:31,120 --> 00:05:34,560 Speaker 1: or three kilo hurts. That means three thousand of those 92 00:05:34,600 --> 00:05:37,919 Speaker 1: waves would pass through a point in space every second 93 00:05:38,040 --> 00:05:41,200 Speaker 1: as the signals passed through the area. On the high end, 94 00:05:41,520 --> 00:05:46,119 Speaker 1: you have extremely high frequency radio waves which measure point 95 00:05:46,360 --> 00:05:50,320 Speaker 1: zero zero one meters or point zero four inches in 96 00:05:50,400 --> 00:05:54,839 Speaker 1: wavelength and have a frequency of three hundred thousand mega hurts. 97 00:05:55,320 --> 00:05:58,560 Speaker 1: That means three hundred billion waves will pass through a 98 00:05:58,560 --> 00:06:02,160 Speaker 1: given point in one set n as the signal passes through. 99 00:06:03,000 --> 00:06:06,240 Speaker 1: Radio wavelength is one factor that determines how far a 100 00:06:06,360 --> 00:06:10,080 Speaker 1: radio signal will travel on Earth. A m radio signals, 101 00:06:10,200 --> 00:06:13,400 Speaker 1: which in the United States range from five killer hurts 102 00:06:13,520 --> 00:06:16,279 Speaker 1: to one point six oh five Mega hurts, have a 103 00:06:16,360 --> 00:06:19,800 Speaker 1: long enough wavelength to follow the curvature of the Earth 104 00:06:20,080 --> 00:06:22,520 Speaker 1: and bounce off the atmosphere, meaning they can travel a 105 00:06:22,600 --> 00:06:27,239 Speaker 1: really long distance. They can travel beyond the horizon. Shorter wavelengths, 106 00:06:27,279 --> 00:06:29,880 Speaker 1: such as the ones that the US reserves for radio 107 00:06:29,920 --> 00:06:35,760 Speaker 1: communication for things like wireless radios and walkie talkies, cellular phones, 108 00:06:35,800 --> 00:06:37,840 Speaker 1: that kind of thing. They travel in the line of 109 00:06:37,880 --> 00:06:41,560 Speaker 1: sight between a transmitter and a receiver. Now that does 110 00:06:41,560 --> 00:06:44,120 Speaker 1: not necessarily mean that you have to be able to 111 00:06:44,200 --> 00:06:48,160 Speaker 1: physically see the receiver from the transmitter. For one thing, 112 00:06:48,240 --> 00:06:52,200 Speaker 1: radio waves can penetrate some substances just fine, although other 113 00:06:52,240 --> 00:06:55,279 Speaker 1: substances can reflect radio waves and cause them to bounce back, 114 00:06:55,800 --> 00:06:58,000 Speaker 1: which I guess is being redundant, but you get what 115 00:06:58,040 --> 00:07:01,720 Speaker 1: I'm saying. And because the Earth is curvature, that limits 116 00:07:01,760 --> 00:07:04,760 Speaker 1: how far a transmitter can send a signal to a 117 00:07:04,839 --> 00:07:09,039 Speaker 1: receiver because the Earth physically curves away from the line 118 00:07:09,040 --> 00:07:11,960 Speaker 1: of transmission. If you send out a radio signal straight 119 00:07:11,960 --> 00:07:14,600 Speaker 1: out from your position. Let's say you're standing up and 120 00:07:14,640 --> 00:07:17,600 Speaker 1: you send out a radio signal, that radio signal is 121 00:07:17,600 --> 00:07:20,200 Speaker 1: going to continue in a straight line even as the 122 00:07:20,240 --> 00:07:25,200 Speaker 1: Earth curves away from it. So eventually the Earth curves 123 00:07:25,200 --> 00:07:27,000 Speaker 1: away enough where no one's going to be able to 124 00:07:27,000 --> 00:07:29,160 Speaker 1: receive that signal, even if it were strong enough to 125 00:07:29,240 --> 00:07:32,080 Speaker 1: keep on going and be strong enough to be picked 126 00:07:32,120 --> 00:07:34,960 Speaker 1: up by an antenna. So the radio signals will just 127 00:07:35,040 --> 00:07:37,560 Speaker 1: keep on going out into space rather than curving along 128 00:07:37,600 --> 00:07:39,640 Speaker 1: the Earth. This, by the way, is one of the 129 00:07:39,680 --> 00:07:42,360 Speaker 1: many pieces of evidence that proves the Earth is in 130 00:07:42,440 --> 00:07:46,360 Speaker 1: fact round, as if we didn't have enough already. But 131 00:07:46,920 --> 00:07:49,560 Speaker 1: you know there are flat earthers out there. If in 132 00:07:49,640 --> 00:07:51,840 Speaker 1: fact the Earth was flat, you would not have this 133 00:07:51,920 --> 00:07:56,080 Speaker 1: problem with radio transmissions. So that's a pretty strong evidence 134 00:07:56,240 --> 00:08:00,560 Speaker 1: that the Earth is round. Another limiting factor is transmission power. 135 00:08:00,600 --> 00:08:03,000 Speaker 1: The power behind the signal helps determine how far it 136 00:08:03,040 --> 00:08:05,280 Speaker 1: can travel. Technically, it's not how far it can travel, 137 00:08:05,320 --> 00:08:09,000 Speaker 1: but how strong the signal is once it gets beyond 138 00:08:09,000 --> 00:08:12,160 Speaker 1: a certain point from its transmission Now imagine a radio 139 00:08:12,280 --> 00:08:16,600 Speaker 1: transmission signal going out in all directions from a transmission antenna. 140 00:08:16,680 --> 00:08:18,360 Speaker 1: Let's just say it's a regular antenna. It's not a 141 00:08:18,400 --> 00:08:22,480 Speaker 1: directional antenna. You're sending a broadcast signal to this antenna. 142 00:08:22,880 --> 00:08:27,640 Speaker 1: It's sending it out in essentially a sphere that extends 143 00:08:27,640 --> 00:08:31,440 Speaker 1: out from that antenna. Now, as the transmission moves further 144 00:08:31,640 --> 00:08:36,439 Speaker 1: from the antenna, the signal is spread over a wider area. Right, 145 00:08:36,480 --> 00:08:41,000 Speaker 1: it's getting it's it's thinning out, it's getting spread across 146 00:08:41,160 --> 00:08:45,400 Speaker 1: more and more space. The law of conservation of energy 147 00:08:45,480 --> 00:08:48,440 Speaker 1: tells us that the further out you are from a transmitter, 148 00:08:48,840 --> 00:08:52,080 Speaker 1: the weaker the signal will be because it's spread over 149 00:08:52,160 --> 00:08:55,520 Speaker 1: a greater area, and eventually you'll be too far from 150 00:08:55,559 --> 00:08:58,680 Speaker 1: the source of transmission to pick up any useful signal. 151 00:08:58,720 --> 00:09:00,640 Speaker 1: It'll be too weak for you to do anything with it, 152 00:09:00,679 --> 00:09:03,720 Speaker 1: to be able to hear anything. Early mobile phones were 153 00:09:03,760 --> 00:09:07,080 Speaker 1: big and bulky, largely because they needed a powerful transmitter 154 00:09:07,240 --> 00:09:09,760 Speaker 1: to get a signal to a nearby radio tower, which 155 00:09:09,800 --> 00:09:13,880 Speaker 1: would then patch the call into a more traditional telecommunications infrastructure, 156 00:09:13,880 --> 00:09:17,120 Speaker 1: in other words, into the regular phone system. This is 157 00:09:17,160 --> 00:09:19,920 Speaker 1: part of the reason why early consumer mobile phones were 158 00:09:20,000 --> 00:09:23,240 Speaker 1: mostly car phones because they could pull energy from the 159 00:09:23,280 --> 00:09:26,960 Speaker 1: car's battery, or they could be big, bulky things that 160 00:09:27,040 --> 00:09:29,600 Speaker 1: you didn't carry around. They'd be too heavy to carry around, 161 00:09:29,600 --> 00:09:31,959 Speaker 1: but you could drive them around in your car, and 162 00:09:32,000 --> 00:09:34,320 Speaker 1: they would rely on a battery that was strong enough 163 00:09:34,360 --> 00:09:37,960 Speaker 1: to power a transmitter that could send a signal to 164 00:09:38,160 --> 00:09:41,960 Speaker 1: a radio tower nearby. And typically cities would have a 165 00:09:42,040 --> 00:09:45,520 Speaker 1: single radio tower, maybe a couple of radio towers, and 166 00:09:45,640 --> 00:09:48,400 Speaker 1: each radio tower was only able to handle maybe a 167 00:09:48,400 --> 00:09:53,120 Speaker 1: couple of dozen channels of communications simultaneously, which really limited 168 00:09:53,160 --> 00:09:55,839 Speaker 1: the number of people who could communicate via radio phones 169 00:09:55,880 --> 00:09:59,280 Speaker 1: at a single time, because once that channel is activated, 170 00:09:59,520 --> 00:10:02,200 Speaker 1: no one will can use it. So if you've got 171 00:10:02,240 --> 00:10:05,800 Speaker 1: a radio tower and it can only handle maybe twenty 172 00:10:05,840 --> 00:10:09,079 Speaker 1: four twenty six channels, one of those channels is going 173 00:10:09,120 --> 00:10:13,199 Speaker 1: to be used for the signal you're sending out. The 174 00:10:13,200 --> 00:10:15,640 Speaker 1: communication signal you're sending out, one of them would be 175 00:10:15,720 --> 00:10:18,839 Speaker 1: used for the signal you're getting back. So each person 176 00:10:18,920 --> 00:10:21,839 Speaker 1: is essentially taking up two channels, and that's because you 177 00:10:21,840 --> 00:10:24,200 Speaker 1: would want to be able to speak and here at 178 00:10:24,240 --> 00:10:26,960 Speaker 1: the same time. If you're using a single channel for 179 00:10:27,000 --> 00:10:30,200 Speaker 1: a communication back and forth, only one person can speak 180 00:10:30,640 --> 00:10:32,880 Speaker 1: at a given time. You may have experienced this if 181 00:10:32,920 --> 00:10:36,320 Speaker 1: you've used CB radio or walkie talkies or anything like that. 182 00:10:36,679 --> 00:10:40,160 Speaker 1: Cellular technology helped change this by creating a new means 183 00:10:40,200 --> 00:10:43,160 Speaker 1: of sending signals across the network. Rather than putting a 184 00:10:43,160 --> 00:10:46,480 Speaker 1: few large radio antennas and strategic locations in major cities, 185 00:10:46,800 --> 00:10:50,840 Speaker 1: the cellular tower approach took a totally different approach. More 186 00:10:50,840 --> 00:10:53,839 Speaker 1: on that in just a second, but first let's take 187 00:10:54,000 --> 00:11:04,000 Speaker 1: a quick break to thank our sponsor. Now, before I 188 00:11:04,040 --> 00:11:06,560 Speaker 1: went into the break, I mentioned that a primitive walkie 189 00:11:06,600 --> 00:11:10,720 Speaker 1: talkie can only handle one channel of communication. It's called 190 00:11:10,760 --> 00:11:14,240 Speaker 1: a half duplex radio. That means that all parties are 191 00:11:14,240 --> 00:11:17,679 Speaker 1: communicating over that same frequency, and thus only one person 192 00:11:17,720 --> 00:11:20,800 Speaker 1: can talk on that frequency at any given time. And 193 00:11:20,880 --> 00:11:24,640 Speaker 1: that's why we ended up developing a way of explaining 194 00:11:24,640 --> 00:11:26,400 Speaker 1: to people when we were done talking. You know, you 195 00:11:26,440 --> 00:11:28,920 Speaker 1: say over at the end of a sentence, meaning you 196 00:11:28,960 --> 00:11:33,120 Speaker 1: are done with that thought, and that allows other parties 197 00:11:33,160 --> 00:11:35,440 Speaker 1: to have a chance to chat and add in things, 198 00:11:35,520 --> 00:11:37,880 Speaker 1: and they would say over when they were done, and 199 00:11:37,960 --> 00:11:40,400 Speaker 1: that's how you would be able to manage communication traffic 200 00:11:40,440 --> 00:11:44,120 Speaker 1: across this single channel. A cell phone is a full 201 00:11:44,240 --> 00:11:47,800 Speaker 1: duplex device which uses one frequency for sending communications and 202 00:11:47,880 --> 00:11:51,840 Speaker 1: one for receiving communicating signals, which means multiple people can 203 00:11:51,880 --> 00:11:54,679 Speaker 1: talk over each other. And cell phones have the ability 204 00:11:54,720 --> 00:11:58,520 Speaker 1: to communicate over more than a fifteen hundred channels and 205 00:11:58,559 --> 00:12:01,360 Speaker 1: they don't need to send signals for a far because 206 00:12:01,400 --> 00:12:04,720 Speaker 1: of cell towers. Now, the cell and cell phone refers 207 00:12:04,760 --> 00:12:07,880 Speaker 1: to regions of coverage, and these regions of coverage are 208 00:12:07,880 --> 00:12:11,800 Speaker 1: actually pretty small. Each cell region has an allocation of 209 00:12:11,920 --> 00:12:15,560 Speaker 1: channels that represents a fraction of all available signals for 210 00:12:15,640 --> 00:12:18,440 Speaker 1: cell phones. So let's say you're looking at a map 211 00:12:18,960 --> 00:12:22,119 Speaker 1: of a region. Let's say it's a city, and imagine 212 00:12:22,200 --> 00:12:26,120 Speaker 1: that the the map has an overlay on top of 213 00:12:26,160 --> 00:12:30,480 Speaker 1: it to show the cell tower allocation, and it would 214 00:12:30,480 --> 00:12:33,360 Speaker 1: look kind of like a hexagonal overlay. So if you've 215 00:12:33,400 --> 00:12:36,959 Speaker 1: ever seen hexagonal maps that are often used in gaming, 216 00:12:37,160 --> 00:12:39,720 Speaker 1: just imagine one of those overlaid on top of a 217 00:12:39,880 --> 00:12:45,320 Speaker 1: city map. Each hexagon represents a cell, the center of 218 00:12:45,320 --> 00:12:49,040 Speaker 1: which you would argue is the cell tower, and uh, 219 00:12:49,120 --> 00:12:53,000 Speaker 1: each cell would have one seventh of all the channels 220 00:12:53,080 --> 00:12:57,880 Speaker 1: available for communication in that city. No two adjacent cells 221 00:12:58,000 --> 00:13:00,920 Speaker 1: would have the same range of signals, So this is 222 00:13:01,000 --> 00:13:03,080 Speaker 1: just for simplicity's sake. Well, I'm just going to use 223 00:13:03,160 --> 00:13:05,040 Speaker 1: this as an example. This is not the way it 224 00:13:05,080 --> 00:13:09,400 Speaker 1: actually shakes out. But let's imagine hypothetically that you have 225 00:13:09,559 --> 00:13:14,000 Speaker 1: seven hundred channels to work with the center hexagon. When 226 00:13:14,040 --> 00:13:16,360 Speaker 1: you start off, Let's say that you're at your location 227 00:13:16,400 --> 00:13:19,040 Speaker 1: and you're looking at a map. The hexagon you are 228 00:13:19,120 --> 00:13:23,280 Speaker 1: in is using channels one through one hundred. The cell 229 00:13:23,360 --> 00:13:27,600 Speaker 1: directly to your north can use signals on one through 230 00:13:27,679 --> 00:13:32,240 Speaker 1: two hundred, and then you move clockwise around your center hexagon. 231 00:13:32,320 --> 00:13:36,680 Speaker 1: You look at each hexagon that's adjacent to yours. Each 232 00:13:36,679 --> 00:13:40,559 Speaker 1: one would have the next range of signals, so two 233 00:13:40,640 --> 00:13:43,560 Speaker 1: hundred one to three hundred, the next one three one 234 00:13:43,640 --> 00:13:46,720 Speaker 1: to four hundred, and so on. Now, because cell phones 235 00:13:46,760 --> 00:13:50,960 Speaker 1: transmit at a low power signal, just at a few watts, 236 00:13:51,440 --> 00:13:54,920 Speaker 1: the transmissions do not go very far. The signal attenuates 237 00:13:55,000 --> 00:13:58,520 Speaker 1: enough it it loses enough energy that it's not going 238 00:13:58,559 --> 00:14:03,079 Speaker 1: to be picked up the on the next cell tower hexagon. 239 00:14:03,720 --> 00:14:06,920 Speaker 1: You don't have to worry about interfering with the immediate neighbors. 240 00:14:06,960 --> 00:14:10,520 Speaker 1: That means you can actually reuse the channels again once 241 00:14:10,600 --> 00:14:14,400 Speaker 1: you have a different cell in between them, so an 242 00:14:14,520 --> 00:14:18,480 Speaker 1: entire city could use just seven channels this way, repeating 243 00:14:18,559 --> 00:14:22,240 Speaker 1: channels once there's enough space between two cell towers that 244 00:14:22,400 --> 00:14:27,000 Speaker 1: use that same range, so your center hexagon and a 245 00:14:27,000 --> 00:14:30,080 Speaker 1: hexagon on the other side of one of your neighbors 246 00:14:30,480 --> 00:14:34,400 Speaker 1: could use the exact same set of frequencies because you're 247 00:14:34,440 --> 00:14:37,600 Speaker 1: not going to interfere with your transmissions. The big advantage 248 00:14:37,600 --> 00:14:41,040 Speaker 1: of cell phones is obviously that their mobile, and as 249 00:14:41,040 --> 00:14:44,920 Speaker 1: you move towards the edge of a cell, your cells tower, 250 00:14:46,000 --> 00:14:48,560 Speaker 1: the one that's in the hexagon you are currently in, 251 00:14:48,800 --> 00:14:52,800 Speaker 1: it starts to detect that your signal is diminishing in strength. Meanwhile, 252 00:14:52,840 --> 00:14:56,360 Speaker 1: the neighboring cell tower is picking up that your signal 253 00:14:56,440 --> 00:14:58,800 Speaker 1: is starting to get stronger. Now, every cell tower is 254 00:14:58,880 --> 00:15:02,840 Speaker 1: monitoring the entire a range of channels, not just the 255 00:15:02,920 --> 00:15:06,240 Speaker 1: channels that are specific to that cell, so they can 256 00:15:06,280 --> 00:15:09,720 Speaker 1: they can monitor all of the channels of communication. They're 257 00:15:09,720 --> 00:15:13,520 Speaker 1: only really concerned with the block of channels that are 258 00:15:13,560 --> 00:15:16,600 Speaker 1: assigned to that particular cell. However, now when you get 259 00:15:16,640 --> 00:15:22,000 Speaker 1: close enough to the new cell, your old cell tower, 260 00:15:22,120 --> 00:15:25,120 Speaker 1: the one that was where you used to be, will 261 00:15:25,280 --> 00:15:29,080 Speaker 1: hand off the signal to its neighbor, to whatever neighboring 262 00:15:29,120 --> 00:15:32,640 Speaker 1: tower you're heading toward, and that will send instructions to 263 00:15:32,640 --> 00:15:37,280 Speaker 1: your phone that will switch channel frequencies. This all happens seamlessly. 264 00:15:37,560 --> 00:15:40,040 Speaker 1: It can happen in the middle of a conversation, and 265 00:15:40,080 --> 00:15:42,480 Speaker 1: it happens so quickly that we humans don't even notice 266 00:15:42,520 --> 00:15:46,240 Speaker 1: that it happens. Assuming that everything is working properly, and 267 00:15:46,280 --> 00:15:49,040 Speaker 1: you can have a call on a speaker phone and 268 00:15:49,120 --> 00:15:52,000 Speaker 1: pass through half a dozen cells through a single call 269 00:15:52,120 --> 00:15:55,520 Speaker 1: as you're driving across town, and you wouldn't have a problem, 270 00:15:55,720 --> 00:15:58,440 Speaker 1: assuming everything's working the way it's supposed to. Now, this 271 00:15:58,600 --> 00:16:02,880 Speaker 1: concept of cell towers dates back to about nineteen seventy one, 272 00:16:02,960 --> 00:16:05,800 Speaker 1: when A T and T referred to splitting phone service 273 00:16:05,840 --> 00:16:09,800 Speaker 1: in cities into areas called cells. The first mobile phone 274 00:16:09,800 --> 00:16:13,800 Speaker 1: call happened in nineteen seventy three when Dr Martin Cooper 275 00:16:13,840 --> 00:16:16,720 Speaker 1: of Motorola made the first cell phone call to Dr 276 00:16:16,840 --> 00:16:20,320 Speaker 1: Joel s Ingle, who was the head of Bell Labs. So, 277 00:16:20,360 --> 00:16:23,200 Speaker 1: in other words, Dr Cooper called up his biggest competitor 278 00:16:23,560 --> 00:16:26,120 Speaker 1: for the first cell phone call, which I think is 279 00:16:26,160 --> 00:16:29,480 Speaker 1: pretty awesome. And it took about a decade in the 280 00:16:29,560 --> 00:16:32,600 Speaker 1: United States for companies to build out this technology. And 281 00:16:32,640 --> 00:16:34,840 Speaker 1: the protocols and the infrastructure to make cell phones a 282 00:16:34,920 --> 00:16:38,440 Speaker 1: viable commercial product that was already taking place in Europe, 283 00:16:38,640 --> 00:16:42,160 Speaker 1: but we were a little bit behind here in the US. Now, 284 00:16:42,200 --> 00:16:44,760 Speaker 1: that's a basic overview of how cellular towers work, and 285 00:16:44,800 --> 00:16:47,080 Speaker 1: there's a lot more detail than what I just mentioned, 286 00:16:47,120 --> 00:16:50,720 Speaker 1: including the differences between analog and digital cellular service, but 287 00:16:50,760 --> 00:16:53,760 Speaker 1: it's good enough for our discussions about Nokia. So let's 288 00:16:53,840 --> 00:16:57,040 Speaker 1: get back to that company. While the VHF phone service 289 00:16:57,040 --> 00:17:01,600 Speaker 1: the Nokia launched in the late seventies wasn't cellular necessarily, 290 00:17:01,640 --> 00:17:03,840 Speaker 1: not not in the same way that we would call 291 00:17:03,840 --> 00:17:06,840 Speaker 1: it today, the company soon focused on developing cell phones 292 00:17:06,920 --> 00:17:10,600 Speaker 1: due to the construction of the Nordic Mobile Telephone Network 293 00:17:10,720 --> 00:17:16,640 Speaker 1: or in MT. This network provided coverage across Finland, Sweden, Denmark, 294 00:17:16,880 --> 00:17:20,040 Speaker 1: and Norway and then later Iceland, making it the first 295 00:17:20,119 --> 00:17:24,800 Speaker 1: international cellular network. The networks launched in Sweden and Norway 296 00:17:24,880 --> 00:17:28,760 Speaker 1: in one and then in Finland and Denmark the following year, 297 00:17:29,160 --> 00:17:32,439 Speaker 1: and that gave companies like Nokia the opportunity to develop 298 00:17:32,520 --> 00:17:36,560 Speaker 1: handsets for consumers. During this you are using the service 299 00:17:36,720 --> 00:17:43,439 Speaker 1: as its backbone. Ino Nokia released the Mobira Senator this 300 00:17:43,600 --> 00:17:46,159 Speaker 1: was a car phone and had a hefty battery to 301 00:17:46,200 --> 00:17:48,920 Speaker 1: provide for the transmission strength needed to send signals from 302 00:17:48,960 --> 00:17:51,879 Speaker 1: the phone to a radio tower, and the Senator weighed 303 00:17:52,119 --> 00:17:57,359 Speaker 1: twenty two pounds or ten krams. Pretty heavy phone. You 304 00:17:57,359 --> 00:17:59,119 Speaker 1: can see why. It was a car phone, not a 305 00:18:00,000 --> 00:18:02,080 Speaker 1: cell phone that you would carry around with you. While 306 00:18:02,119 --> 00:18:05,160 Speaker 1: the Senator saw a limited success, it became the first 307 00:18:05,160 --> 00:18:08,720 Speaker 1: step towards Nokia asserting itself in a growing industry, and 308 00:18:08,760 --> 00:18:13,080 Speaker 1: the company would release a slightly lighter transportable phone that 309 00:18:13,160 --> 00:18:17,080 Speaker 1: was what they called it, called the Mobira Talkman, which 310 00:18:17,119 --> 00:18:20,359 Speaker 1: weighed in at eleven pounds or five kilograms, so half 311 00:18:20,400 --> 00:18:23,520 Speaker 1: the weight of the Senator, but still pretty darn heavy. 312 00:18:23,680 --> 00:18:28,120 Speaker 1: In seven, the company, still producing phones under the Mobira name, 313 00:18:28,440 --> 00:18:31,679 Speaker 1: introduced the first handheld mobile phone and they called it 314 00:18:31,720 --> 00:18:35,160 Speaker 1: the Mobira Cityman nine hundred. It weighed about one point 315 00:18:35,240 --> 00:18:39,000 Speaker 1: six eight pounds or seven sixty grams. That's according to 316 00:18:39,080 --> 00:18:41,280 Speaker 1: one source. I saw everything from seven hundred and sixty 317 00:18:41,320 --> 00:18:44,240 Speaker 1: grams up to eight hundred grams, so one point six 318 00:18:44,280 --> 00:18:46,960 Speaker 1: eight to like one point seven six pounds somewhere in 319 00:18:46,960 --> 00:18:50,080 Speaker 1: that range. It also cost a pretty penny. The price 320 00:18:50,119 --> 00:18:53,080 Speaker 1: tag for the handset which was in a brick style 321 00:18:53,240 --> 00:18:57,119 Speaker 1: with a big antenna, and this was a big mobile phone. 322 00:18:58,040 --> 00:19:01,959 Speaker 1: It cost twenty four thousand finish marks back in nineteen 323 00:19:02,000 --> 00:19:05,000 Speaker 1: eight seven. That would be about five thousand, four hundred 324 00:19:05,040 --> 00:19:08,159 Speaker 1: fifty dollars in US money at the time, So we 325 00:19:08,200 --> 00:19:12,120 Speaker 1: adjust that for inflation, that would be worth about eleven thousand, 326 00:19:12,480 --> 00:19:16,560 Speaker 1: eight hundred forty three dollars today. So imagine spending nearly 327 00:19:16,640 --> 00:19:20,520 Speaker 1: twelve thousand dollars for a mobile phone. It got the 328 00:19:20,640 --> 00:19:25,600 Speaker 1: nickname Gorba in Finland. Why because during a press conference 329 00:19:25,640 --> 00:19:30,360 Speaker 1: in nineteen eighty seven, Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev was photographed 330 00:19:30,600 --> 00:19:34,560 Speaker 1: using one he called uh Moscow. I believe during the 331 00:19:34,560 --> 00:19:38,679 Speaker 1: press conference using such a phone in night a highly 332 00:19:38,720 --> 00:19:43,000 Speaker 1: competitive electronics market meant that Nakia saw a big drop 333 00:19:43,080 --> 00:19:48,480 Speaker 1: in profits. Times were getting tight for Nakia. CEO Kairamo, 334 00:19:48,520 --> 00:19:51,600 Speaker 1: who had also served as chairman between nineteen eighty six 335 00:19:51,640 --> 00:19:55,919 Speaker 1: and nineteen eighty eight, tragically ended his own life in 336 00:19:55,960 --> 00:19:59,520 Speaker 1: December Night, a fact that Nokia at first tried to 337 00:19:59,600 --> 00:20:03,120 Speaker 1: keep Wyatt. While there has been speculation over what moved 338 00:20:03,200 --> 00:20:08,000 Speaker 1: Karramo to commit suicide, I found no definitive reason. Though 339 00:20:08,080 --> 00:20:11,320 Speaker 1: there's no doubt he was under tremendous stress at the time, 340 00:20:11,359 --> 00:20:14,280 Speaker 1: though whether or not that directly contributed, I can't say. 341 00:20:15,359 --> 00:20:20,320 Speaker 1: Simo Virlato assumed control of the company, at which at 342 00:20:20,320 --> 00:20:25,480 Speaker 1: the time was still several businesses in very different industries, 343 00:20:25,600 --> 00:20:29,560 Speaker 1: all kind of gloamed on together. This new CEO called 344 00:20:29,600 --> 00:20:32,719 Speaker 1: for a complete restructuring of the company, and the company 345 00:20:32,720 --> 00:20:36,320 Speaker 1: began to divest itself of various businesses, including the Finished 346 00:20:36,359 --> 00:20:42,120 Speaker 1: Rubber Works, which was the first major company to create Nokia. 347 00:20:42,200 --> 00:20:43,919 Speaker 1: I mean, you remember, there was the paper mill that 348 00:20:43,960 --> 00:20:47,440 Speaker 1: came before it that was technically called Nokia. But it 349 00:20:47,520 --> 00:20:50,000 Speaker 1: was the founder of the Finnish rubber Works who really 350 00:20:50,040 --> 00:20:52,760 Speaker 1: put all these companies together in the first place. He 351 00:20:52,800 --> 00:20:56,679 Speaker 1: also divested the company of Nokia's computer division. Finland at 352 00:20:56,680 --> 00:21:00,320 Speaker 1: the time was entering a severe economic recession. It was 353 00:21:00,400 --> 00:21:03,679 Speaker 1: essentially a depression that was greater in magnitude than the 354 00:21:03,720 --> 00:21:06,760 Speaker 1: one in the nineteen thirties for Finland, and then the 355 00:21:06,800 --> 00:21:11,359 Speaker 1: Soviet Union collapsed, and the Soviets had been Nokia's chief customers. 356 00:21:11,440 --> 00:21:15,320 Speaker 1: So things were looking pretty grim for the company. But 357 00:21:16,040 --> 00:21:20,000 Speaker 1: the story doesn't end here. I'll tell you how the 358 00:21:20,040 --> 00:21:23,120 Speaker 1: story does end. In just a second, but first, let's 359 00:21:23,119 --> 00:21:33,680 Speaker 1: take another quick break to thank our sponsor. During this 360 00:21:33,760 --> 00:21:38,399 Speaker 1: dire economic situation, Nakia released the Nakia ten eleven phone. 361 00:21:38,840 --> 00:21:40,800 Speaker 1: It was one of the earliest phones to have the 362 00:21:40,880 --> 00:21:44,359 Speaker 1: Knackia name, not a Mobira brand, although it was also 363 00:21:44,440 --> 00:21:48,199 Speaker 1: called the Mobira Cityman two thousand in some publications. It 364 00:21:48,240 --> 00:21:51,439 Speaker 1: had a battery that allowed for ninety whole minutes of 365 00:21:51,480 --> 00:21:54,040 Speaker 1: talk time before needing a recharge, and it could hold 366 00:21:54,080 --> 00:21:57,959 Speaker 1: up to contact numbers. It worked on the Global System 367 00:21:58,000 --> 00:22:02,560 Speaker 1: for Mobile Communications standard, better known as g s M. 368 00:22:02,600 --> 00:22:06,320 Speaker 1: This eventually became the dominant standard for mobile phones worldwide, 369 00:22:06,680 --> 00:22:10,240 Speaker 1: with Code division Multiple Access or c d m A 370 00:22:10,440 --> 00:22:14,000 Speaker 1: being a distant second place. GSM would end up being 371 00:22:14,040 --> 00:22:17,520 Speaker 1: pretty used pretty much everywhere, whereas c d M A 372 00:22:17,560 --> 00:22:20,760 Speaker 1: became a standard found mainly in the United States and Russia, 373 00:22:21,000 --> 00:22:22,320 Speaker 1: and in fact even in the US. It was a 374 00:22:22,359 --> 00:22:25,760 Speaker 1: bit confusing because you had some telephone networks working on 375 00:22:25,840 --> 00:22:29,159 Speaker 1: GSM and others working on c d M A. In 376 00:22:29,280 --> 00:22:35,359 Speaker 1: nineteen nine two, Yerma Allila became the new CEO of Nakia. Alilah, 377 00:22:35,640 --> 00:22:38,879 Speaker 1: who had been the head of Nakia's mobile device division, 378 00:22:39,160 --> 00:22:42,439 Speaker 1: decided the future of the company was in telecommunications, and 379 00:22:42,520 --> 00:22:45,840 Speaker 1: so he continued the trend of divesting Nakia of all 380 00:22:45,960 --> 00:22:51,359 Speaker 1: other businesses in order to focus exclusively on telecommunications. Shedding 381 00:22:51,400 --> 00:22:53,800 Speaker 1: those businesses turned out to be the right move, as 382 00:22:53,920 --> 00:22:57,600 Speaker 1: Nakia was able to refocus and grow and return to profitability. 383 00:22:58,200 --> 00:23:02,800 Speaker 1: In n Nakia introduced the twenty one line of phones. 384 00:23:03,280 --> 00:23:06,120 Speaker 1: This was the first phone to have the famous Knakia ringtone, 385 00:23:06,280 --> 00:23:08,680 Speaker 1: which goes like this, do do do do Do Do do 386 00:23:08,520 --> 00:23:12,080 Speaker 1: do do do do do do I'm sure you've heard 387 00:23:12,119 --> 00:23:18,080 Speaker 1: it a billion times. That's when it dated from. Two 388 00:23:18,160 --> 00:23:20,600 Speaker 1: years later, in ninety six, the company released a sort 389 00:23:20,640 --> 00:23:25,040 Speaker 1: of proto smartphone called the Nakia nine thousand Communicator. This 390 00:23:25,320 --> 00:23:29,320 Speaker 1: thick handset flipped open to reveal a monochromatic screen and 391 00:23:29,400 --> 00:23:32,800 Speaker 1: a full quarty keyboard, along with a direction pad and 392 00:23:32,920 --> 00:23:36,080 Speaker 1: function keys. You could make calls, you could browse the 393 00:23:36,119 --> 00:23:40,080 Speaker 1: web such as it was back in and even send 394 00:23:40,080 --> 00:23:44,320 Speaker 1: a facts using this phone. The device wasn't a commercial success, 395 00:23:44,440 --> 00:23:48,880 Speaker 1: but found its fair share of devoted fans. Nonetheless, Nakia 396 00:23:48,960 --> 00:23:52,080 Speaker 1: also released a phone called the Knackia eight one ten. 397 00:23:52,520 --> 00:23:55,119 Speaker 1: It featured a cover that would slide down to reveal 398 00:23:55,160 --> 00:23:57,679 Speaker 1: the number pad on the phone, inspiring some people to 399 00:23:57,720 --> 00:24:00,679 Speaker 1: call this the Banana phone. It is featured in a 400 00:24:00,720 --> 00:24:03,760 Speaker 1: little film that came out in nineteen You might have 401 00:24:03,800 --> 00:24:07,240 Speaker 1: heard of it. It's called The Matrix. If you remember 402 00:24:07,240 --> 00:24:10,360 Speaker 1: the scene where Neo's in his office and he gets 403 00:24:10,440 --> 00:24:12,960 Speaker 1: a delivery and he opens up the package and there's 404 00:24:13,000 --> 00:24:15,040 Speaker 1: a phone inside it. Immediately he gets a phone call. 405 00:24:15,560 --> 00:24:19,119 Speaker 1: That's the phone. It's a Nakia one. So watch that 406 00:24:19,160 --> 00:24:22,639 Speaker 1: scene and you'll see this famous phone highlighted on screen 407 00:24:23,320 --> 00:24:29,440 Speaker 1: by n Nakia had become the world's largest mobile phone manufacturer. 408 00:24:29,560 --> 00:24:33,520 Speaker 1: Not bad considering that they had just made the decision 409 00:24:33,560 --> 00:24:38,200 Speaker 1: to focus exclusively on telecommunications just a few years earlier. 410 00:24:38,680 --> 00:24:40,680 Speaker 1: This was a company that was doing a lot of everything, 411 00:24:41,000 --> 00:24:43,800 Speaker 1: and then when they really focused on this one industry, 412 00:24:43,960 --> 00:24:48,440 Speaker 1: they dominated it. They wrestled the title away from Motorola, 413 00:24:48,880 --> 00:24:52,679 Speaker 1: and Nakia remained the top mobile phone company in the 414 00:24:52,680 --> 00:24:55,240 Speaker 1: world for more than a decade. In fact, I think 415 00:24:55,240 --> 00:24:58,919 Speaker 1: it was fourteen years that they held the top spot. 416 00:24:59,600 --> 00:25:02,280 Speaker 1: One of the big selling features for their phones was 417 00:25:02,320 --> 00:25:05,320 Speaker 1: that you could play this little nifty game called Snake 418 00:25:06,160 --> 00:25:09,400 Speaker 1: on them. Look, times were tough, and we took entertainment 419 00:25:09,400 --> 00:25:13,200 Speaker 1: where we could find it. Guys in and two thousand 420 00:25:13,280 --> 00:25:16,240 Speaker 1: Nakia launched the thirty two ten and the thirty three 421 00:25:16,280 --> 00:25:20,640 Speaker 1: tin hand sets, which both would sell like hotcakes. They'd 422 00:25:20,640 --> 00:25:23,640 Speaker 1: be dwarfed in sales a few years later, however, when 423 00:25:23,640 --> 00:25:27,040 Speaker 1: the eleven hundred series launched, Nakia would sell more than 424 00:25:27,119 --> 00:25:31,359 Speaker 1: two hundred fifty million eleven hundred hand sets, making it 425 00:25:31,440 --> 00:25:34,000 Speaker 1: not just the best selling mobile handset of all time, 426 00:25:34,359 --> 00:25:37,959 Speaker 1: but also the best selling consumer electronics product at that point. 427 00:25:38,600 --> 00:25:42,199 Speaker 1: In two thousand two, Nakia entered into a joint venture 428 00:25:42,280 --> 00:25:47,240 Speaker 1: with Psion and a couple of hand set manufacturing competitors, 429 00:25:47,280 --> 00:25:50,320 Speaker 1: that being Ericsson and Motorola. The three of them joined 430 00:25:50,320 --> 00:25:54,040 Speaker 1: together with the purpose of creating an operating system for 431 00:25:54,160 --> 00:25:57,760 Speaker 1: mobile devices. The handset manufacturers wanted to build out the 432 00:25:57,800 --> 00:26:02,359 Speaker 1: features on phones and increase their capabilities and create various 433 00:26:02,400 --> 00:26:05,240 Speaker 1: little things that we would call apps today, and they 434 00:26:05,320 --> 00:26:08,159 Speaker 1: wanted it to go well beyond sending and receiving calls 435 00:26:08,160 --> 00:26:11,439 Speaker 1: and text messages and doing some rudimentary web browsing. The 436 00:26:11,520 --> 00:26:16,000 Speaker 1: joint venture became Symbian Limited, and the operating system is 437 00:26:16,080 --> 00:26:20,400 Speaker 1: of course known as Symbian. Symbian serves as the foundation 438 00:26:20,480 --> 00:26:24,879 Speaker 1: for software platforms and different handset manufacturers have different overlays 439 00:26:24,920 --> 00:26:27,000 Speaker 1: on top of the basic operating system. You can think 440 00:26:27,000 --> 00:26:30,440 Speaker 1: of them as different flavors of Symbion, So for Nakia 441 00:26:30,560 --> 00:26:33,639 Speaker 1: as well as for Samsung and LG that platform was 442 00:26:33,680 --> 00:26:38,080 Speaker 1: called S sixty, also known as Series sixty User Interface. 443 00:26:38,680 --> 00:26:41,240 Speaker 1: The first Nakia phone to launch with this operating system 444 00:26:41,280 --> 00:26:44,159 Speaker 1: was the Nakia seventy six fifty in two thousand two. 445 00:26:44,400 --> 00:26:46,359 Speaker 1: This was the first of Nakias phones to have a 446 00:26:46,400 --> 00:26:50,800 Speaker 1: built in camera and a color display. It's largely referred 447 00:26:50,800 --> 00:26:52,920 Speaker 1: to as one of the first smartphones, though it was 448 00:26:52,960 --> 00:26:55,560 Speaker 1: still on two G networks at the time. The first 449 00:26:55,600 --> 00:26:58,560 Speaker 1: three G phone from Nakia was the sixty six fifty, 450 00:26:58,800 --> 00:27:00,720 Speaker 1: which came out a little bit late eater. By the way, 451 00:27:00,720 --> 00:27:04,400 Speaker 1: this numbering standard, I don't understand where it comes from. 452 00:27:04,920 --> 00:27:09,440 Speaker 1: Seven's eight six is tens twos. They don't seem to 453 00:27:09,480 --> 00:27:12,240 Speaker 1: be sequential, so I don't really get it. But the 454 00:27:12,280 --> 00:27:15,800 Speaker 1: Knackia thirty six fifty would be the first Symbian Series 455 00:27:15,880 --> 00:27:18,640 Speaker 1: sixty phone available in the United States, and it had 456 00:27:18,680 --> 00:27:21,000 Speaker 1: a video recorders, so we were starting to see these 457 00:27:21,200 --> 00:27:25,280 Speaker 1: more advanced features get incorporated Knockia phones. Now I could 458 00:27:25,320 --> 00:27:29,119 Speaker 1: list all the phones Knockia launched in the two thousand's, 459 00:27:29,119 --> 00:27:32,399 Speaker 1: but that would get super old super fast. Suffice it 460 00:27:32,440 --> 00:27:34,920 Speaker 1: to say that the company was churning out new models 461 00:27:35,000 --> 00:27:38,480 Speaker 1: covering a spectrum of features and budgets. In those years. 462 00:27:39,000 --> 00:27:42,040 Speaker 1: Year after year, Nakia was topping the list of mobile 463 00:27:42,040 --> 00:27:45,520 Speaker 1: handset manufacturers. It's brand was known throughout the world, and 464 00:27:45,560 --> 00:27:48,320 Speaker 1: the company was the in the best financial shape in 465 00:27:48,359 --> 00:27:52,399 Speaker 1: its entire history. Now, that didn't mean that they didn't 466 00:27:52,440 --> 00:27:54,879 Speaker 1: stumble a couple of times along the way. In two 467 00:27:54,920 --> 00:27:58,000 Speaker 1: thousand three, for example, Knackia launched a device that became 468 00:27:58,040 --> 00:28:00,800 Speaker 1: the punchline for a mini tech article. It was a 469 00:28:00,840 --> 00:28:04,439 Speaker 1: mobile gaming device called the Engage. It was part phone, 470 00:28:04,840 --> 00:28:08,879 Speaker 1: part handheld gaming console. Not a bad idea necessarily, but 471 00:28:09,280 --> 00:28:12,439 Speaker 1: the form factor left a lot of people laughing or 472 00:28:12,440 --> 00:28:15,520 Speaker 1: scratching their heads. The shape of the device inspired people 473 00:28:15,520 --> 00:28:17,560 Speaker 1: to call it a taco because it was kind of 474 00:28:18,240 --> 00:28:21,520 Speaker 1: taco shaped, and the placement of the speakers and microphone 475 00:28:21,560 --> 00:28:24,320 Speaker 1: meant you had to hold the top edge, the flat 476 00:28:24,520 --> 00:28:28,480 Speaker 1: side of the edge, not the surface, but the edge 477 00:28:28,480 --> 00:28:31,840 Speaker 1: of the taco against your ear, so it would stick 478 00:28:31,840 --> 00:28:34,400 Speaker 1: out from the side of your face quite a bit. 479 00:28:35,840 --> 00:28:37,919 Speaker 1: It seemed weird to have it like that instead of 480 00:28:38,000 --> 00:28:41,680 Speaker 1: using the flat side of the device, so it looked 481 00:28:41,680 --> 00:28:45,320 Speaker 1: pretty ridiculous and start. Contrast with the two million plus 482 00:28:46,360 --> 00:28:49,520 Speaker 1: handsets that Nakia had sold, they managed to only sell 483 00:28:49,560 --> 00:28:53,680 Speaker 1: around three million Engage units and they did not get 484 00:28:53,720 --> 00:28:58,560 Speaker 1: good reviews. That just didn't take off. Yerma Alila retired 485 00:28:58,600 --> 00:29:01,200 Speaker 1: in two thousand six as ce OH and would become 486 00:29:01,200 --> 00:29:04,080 Speaker 1: the chairman of the company. The new CEO was a 487 00:29:04,200 --> 00:29:08,160 Speaker 1: La Peca kalaz Va. In two thousand seven, Apple introduced 488 00:29:08,160 --> 00:29:11,960 Speaker 1: the iPhone, which, as you may recall, caused quite the 489 00:29:12,080 --> 00:29:15,280 Speaker 1: stir in the mobile device world. Nakia, for its part, 490 00:29:15,360 --> 00:29:18,400 Speaker 1: launched a service called O v O v I that 491 00:29:18,560 --> 00:29:22,280 Speaker 1: encompassed internet services for Nakia's own line of feature phones. 492 00:29:22,840 --> 00:29:25,440 Speaker 1: Also in two thousand seven, Knakia had a big problem 493 00:29:25,440 --> 00:29:28,200 Speaker 1: when the company had to recall forty six million cell 494 00:29:28,240 --> 00:29:33,120 Speaker 1: phone batteries across nearly all of its devices. Nakia promised 495 00:29:33,280 --> 00:29:35,320 Speaker 1: that it was going to come out with a flagship 496 00:29:35,360 --> 00:29:37,840 Speaker 1: phone called the N eight that would be a big 497 00:29:37,880 --> 00:29:41,680 Speaker 1: competitor in the smartphone space, but it took longer to 498 00:29:41,760 --> 00:29:44,480 Speaker 1: develop than the company had anticipated. There were a lot 499 00:29:44,480 --> 00:29:48,080 Speaker 1: of delays that frustrated customers, and things were not looking 500 00:29:48,120 --> 00:29:51,480 Speaker 1: good for the company. Smartphones like the iPhone and various 501 00:29:51,520 --> 00:29:54,240 Speaker 1: Android handsets were starting to take a serious chunk out 502 00:29:54,240 --> 00:29:57,840 Speaker 1: of Nakia's dominant position. It was clear Nakia had not 503 00:29:57,920 --> 00:30:02,400 Speaker 1: reacted fast enough to this changing landscape and allowed Apple, Android, 504 00:30:02,440 --> 00:30:05,960 Speaker 1: and even BlackBerry to dominate, although BlackBerry wouldn't be a 505 00:30:06,000 --> 00:30:09,400 Speaker 1: problem for very much longer. By twenty ten, the company 506 00:30:09,400 --> 00:30:11,640 Speaker 1: directors felt there was a need for change, and they 507 00:30:11,720 --> 00:30:16,320 Speaker 1: fired Kalizva and hired the first non finish CEO for Nakia, 508 00:30:16,640 --> 00:30:21,000 Speaker 1: Stephen elop Eli had previously worked for Microsoft in two 509 00:30:21,040 --> 00:30:24,920 Speaker 1: thousand eleven. He likened Nakia's market position to that of 510 00:30:24,920 --> 00:30:28,760 Speaker 1: a man standing on a burning platform. Things were looking 511 00:30:28,880 --> 00:30:33,000 Speaker 1: pretty tough. By this time. Nakia was the only handset 512 00:30:33,040 --> 00:30:37,560 Speaker 1: manufacturer still using Symbion. Nakia had a new operating system 513 00:30:37,560 --> 00:30:40,920 Speaker 1: in development called Mego Lennox in a partnership with Intel, 514 00:30:41,560 --> 00:30:44,920 Speaker 1: and launched a phone that used it, but ultimately the 515 00:30:44,960 --> 00:30:48,240 Speaker 1: company decided to scrap that plan in favor of concentrating 516 00:30:48,520 --> 00:30:53,560 Speaker 1: on Microsoft's Windows Phone operating system. Interesting, since elap had 517 00:30:53,560 --> 00:30:56,760 Speaker 1: become the new president and CEO of the company in 518 00:30:56,800 --> 00:31:00,480 Speaker 1: November two thousand eleven, the company introduced the Loom eight 519 00:31:00,600 --> 00:31:04,959 Speaker 1: hundred Windows Phone. The Windows Phone platform underperformed in the market, 520 00:31:05,400 --> 00:31:09,560 Speaker 1: which is an understatement. Nakia began to incur huge losses 521 00:31:09,600 --> 00:31:14,480 Speaker 1: and Elap announced that Nakia would eliminate ten thousand jobs, 522 00:31:14,720 --> 00:31:19,440 Speaker 1: shutting down a manufacturing processing plan as well. In Nakia 523 00:31:19,480 --> 00:31:22,760 Speaker 1: announced it was selling its mobile division, which accounted for 524 00:31:22,840 --> 00:31:25,120 Speaker 1: most of the company's success in the two thousand era, 525 00:31:25,560 --> 00:31:27,320 Speaker 1: and then they were selling it to by the BA 526 00:31:27,360 --> 00:31:31,760 Speaker 1: BA Microsoft. The sale was complete in two thousand fourteen 527 00:31:31,880 --> 00:31:36,360 Speaker 1: and the division was renamed Microsoft Mobile. Elap headed back 528 00:31:36,400 --> 00:31:41,280 Speaker 1: over to Microsoft. I'm sure this raised several eyebrows. Nakia 529 00:31:41,400 --> 00:31:45,280 Speaker 1: changed its focus once again, now concentrating on network equipment 530 00:31:45,320 --> 00:31:48,520 Speaker 1: and services. Nakia is now in the business of running 531 00:31:48,560 --> 00:31:53,440 Speaker 1: infrastructure for devices like mobile phones, rather than making mobile phones. 532 00:31:53,720 --> 00:31:56,360 Speaker 1: It's also become a player in the Internet of Things space, 533 00:31:56,600 --> 00:31:59,520 Speaker 1: and it still makes consumer electronic products under the Nakia 534 00:31:59,560 --> 00:32:02,720 Speaker 1: technolog G's division. And it's still in the phone business 535 00:32:02,880 --> 00:32:06,080 Speaker 1: because it actually owns a phone company, although it leases 536 00:32:06,120 --> 00:32:09,600 Speaker 1: it to a Chinese company called tc L. It's licensed 537 00:32:09,920 --> 00:32:14,160 Speaker 1: the technology to tc L, so they don't make them themselves. 538 00:32:14,440 --> 00:32:18,440 Speaker 1: They licensed the name to another company. So Nakia still exists, 539 00:32:18,520 --> 00:32:21,880 Speaker 1: though its dominance in the mobile device market is no more. 540 00:32:22,960 --> 00:32:25,760 Speaker 1: Really interesting to see how a company went from being 541 00:32:26,280 --> 00:32:30,000 Speaker 1: the top brand in an industry and just in a 542 00:32:30,080 --> 00:32:33,600 Speaker 1: couple of years falling so hard. But then when you 543 00:32:33,640 --> 00:32:37,000 Speaker 1: look at the full history of Nakia, you really realize 544 00:32:37,000 --> 00:32:40,560 Speaker 1: that the cell phone part of its history is one 545 00:32:40,560 --> 00:32:44,760 Speaker 1: of the shortest span of years in the entire company's history. 546 00:32:44,800 --> 00:32:47,040 Speaker 1: I mean, it went for more than a century before 547 00:32:47,080 --> 00:32:51,760 Speaker 1: it started looking into consumer electronics seriously. So in the 548 00:32:51,800 --> 00:32:54,680 Speaker 1: grand scheme of things, it was a blip on the radar. 549 00:32:55,640 --> 00:32:57,800 Speaker 1: But for many of us who are not familiar with 550 00:32:57,840 --> 00:33:00,400 Speaker 1: the name of the company, and by us I specifically, 551 00:33:00,440 --> 00:33:04,480 Speaker 1: I'm talking about myself, it seems pretty shocking. I want 552 00:33:04,480 --> 00:33:07,480 Speaker 1: to be totally clear here. I think that a lot 553 00:33:07,520 --> 00:33:10,240 Speaker 1: of the decisions that were made by the company executives 554 00:33:10,240 --> 00:33:15,560 Speaker 1: throughout the history of Nakia we're probably pretty solid decisions 555 00:33:15,720 --> 00:33:17,640 Speaker 1: at the time they were being made. It's just that 556 00:33:18,320 --> 00:33:21,880 Speaker 1: the circumstances that surrounded them, much of which were beyond 557 00:33:21,920 --> 00:33:25,600 Speaker 1: their control, ended up hurting the company. Uh. The only 558 00:33:25,640 --> 00:33:28,680 Speaker 1: thing I think was a real detriment for them was 559 00:33:28,960 --> 00:33:33,240 Speaker 1: their lack of initiative once the smartphone revolution really took off. 560 00:33:33,680 --> 00:33:36,480 Speaker 1: And that wraps up our story on Nakia. Maybe in 561 00:33:36,520 --> 00:33:38,600 Speaker 1: the future I'll do a follow up if there are 562 00:33:38,600 --> 00:33:40,680 Speaker 1: any other interesting things to talk about. There were some 563 00:33:40,680 --> 00:33:44,160 Speaker 1: stories that I didn't cover. Uh. There were some troubling 564 00:33:44,520 --> 00:33:49,160 Speaker 1: stories about Nakia and the way its technology was handled 565 00:33:49,200 --> 00:33:53,680 Speaker 1: in Iran. There were accusations that Nakia allowed the Iranian 566 00:33:53,720 --> 00:33:58,320 Speaker 1: government enough power to be able to limit the technology 567 00:33:58,440 --> 00:34:02,200 Speaker 1: when Iranian citizen's we're trying to use it to communicate 568 00:34:02,240 --> 00:34:05,800 Speaker 1: with one another and protest the government. But I felt 569 00:34:05,800 --> 00:34:08,080 Speaker 1: like that was beyond the scope of this episode. It 570 00:34:08,160 --> 00:34:11,080 Speaker 1: might be that it better serve to have a full 571 00:34:11,080 --> 00:34:16,480 Speaker 1: episode about technology and its use on different sides of 572 00:34:16,800 --> 00:34:20,480 Speaker 1: political disagreements, political turmoil. I think that could be a 573 00:34:20,520 --> 00:34:22,600 Speaker 1: really interesting episode that I might do in the future. 574 00:34:22,800 --> 00:34:26,200 Speaker 1: If you have a suggestion for a future episode, please 575 00:34:26,280 --> 00:34:28,320 Speaker 1: let me know what you would like me to talk about. 576 00:34:28,400 --> 00:34:31,239 Speaker 1: Maybe it's a company, maybe it's a technology, maybe it's 577 00:34:31,280 --> 00:34:33,520 Speaker 1: a person. Maybe there's someone you want me to interview 578 00:34:33,600 --> 00:34:35,680 Speaker 1: or have on as a guest host. You can send 579 00:34:35,719 --> 00:34:38,279 Speaker 1: me an email that address is tech Stuff at how 580 00:34:38,320 --> 00:34:41,000 Speaker 1: stuffworks dot com, or drop me a line on Facebook 581 00:34:41,080 --> 00:34:42,719 Speaker 1: or Twitter. The handle of both of those is tech 582 00:34:42,800 --> 00:34:46,239 Speaker 1: Stuff h s W. Follow our Instagram, make sure you 583 00:34:46,280 --> 00:34:49,400 Speaker 1: watch me live on twitch dot tv slash tech Stuff, 584 00:34:49,680 --> 00:34:58,480 Speaker 1: and I'll talk to you again really soon. For more 585 00:34:58,520 --> 00:35:00,680 Speaker 1: on this and thousands of other time fix is at 586 00:35:00,680 --> 00:35:07,160 Speaker 1: how stuff works dot com wh