FINLAND, locked in a downward spiral economically since Nokia’s fall from atop the smartphone world, is cheering the announcement that handsets bearing the company’s badge will reappear, and with them the possibility of much-needed jobs.The country, which eked out 0.5% growth in 2015 after three years of recession, took a huge hit when Nokia surrendered to Apple and Samsung Electronics in 2014 and sold its flagship handset business to Microsoft.With it went thousands of jobs. The new owner condensed staffing at the Finnish mobile phone unit to less than 1,000 from the more than 24,000 Nokia employed in its heyday in 2000.Nokia emerged in the late 1990s as Finland’s first major global corporation and symbolised its transformation to a technology-driven economy. At its peak in 2000, it generated about 4% of gross domestic product.Today, Finland is struggling to cut wages and make itself more competitive, squeezed by generous labour deals struck during Nokia’s go-go days that made the ...
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