Back in the 1980s, aside from Finland and parts of Europe, most of the world's consumers did not recognize the Nokia brand.

But it progressively disengaged from the rubber, lumber and paper businesses that it was engaged in to become a telecom giant.

In 1998, it passed Motorola to become the world's leading maker of mobile phones. In 1999, its global share was 27 per cent. In addition, it possesses the world's 11th most valuable brand (right after Marlboro). Its stock market value, at US$250 billion as of mid-April, is the highest of any European company.

The company's rapid growth has not only stunned outsiders such as stock investors who observe the company constantly, but also the people who work at and operate Nokia as well.

A Nokia employee once said, "We sometimes do feel that we have grown too fast."

Now comes another challenge which might not have been experienced by Nokia - how to continue its leadership?

As the company's Chief Executive Officer Jorma Ollila said, Nokia is gearing up to lead the way to the mobile information society.

The mobile information society, as Nokia defines it, will enable users to access all forms of information in a seamless and transparent way, regardless of time and place.

Nokia's strategy towards the mobile information society takes two parallel, but complementary paths - one with roots in mobile phones and the other with roots in IP networks.

The Nokia technology strategy towards the mobile information society is global IP mobility.

The emerging mobile information society will be driven by applications with technologies acting as enablers, transparent to the end-user. The mobile network evolution towards IP based network solutions will take place through technologies such as GPRS (General Packet Radio System), EDGE (Enhanced Data Rates for Global Evolution) and WCDMA (Wideband Code Divisional Multiple Access).

With Nokia's third generation (3G) solutions, today's GSM operators can be assured not only of a smooth evolution to 3G but also of protection for their existing network investments.

Also, GSM's system elements will be reused with the integration of GSM and WCDMA base stations, and the two networks will share common transmission resources and network management for GSM and WCDMA.

Nokia was the first vendor in the world to launch a complete 3G network system last October, providing a total WCDMA network for mobile operators.

It has clinched deals with operators in Finland, Britain, Japan and Singapore to supply the 3G networks. For GPRS, more than 40 operators globally have purchased Nokia call networks.

Third generation brings a new age in personal communivergence of voice, data and image in a mobile network, resulting in new mobile multimedia services and applications.

The development of new content and application is seen by Nokia as an important driver in 3G and hence has strongly encouraged the establishment of open standards and operating systems for mobile terminals, as well as the foundation of third-party developer forums.

Nokia's 3G vision of the mobile terminal revolves around four major themes: mobile Internet, mobile multimedia messaging, open platforms and global usability.

Nokia's success in mobile phone market has provided it a sound base to it to forge ahead to the 3G competition.

Nokia has quickly expanded its presence in the IP sector by acquiring a bunch of Internet startups, mostly in the United States.

(China Daily)