Just saw this news on the Nokia Press Bulletin courtesy of one Stefan Constantinescu.
Komarom, Hungary – Earlier today, Nokia celebrated an industry milestone at its mobile phone manufacturing facility in Komarom, Hungary – the production of its 500 millionth phone from a single factory.
In his address to Komarom employees, Nokia Chief Executive Officer Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, praised staff on their achievement and dedication to quality.
Established in 1999, the Komarom facility manufactures mobile phones for the European, Middle East and African markets. During the past 10 years the Komarom factory has produced many of Nokia’s most popular models including the best selling Nokia 2760, the highly popular Nokia 6300 as well as Nokia’s latest music device the Nokia 5800 ExpressMusic.
The 500 millionth device produced in Komarom was the Nokia N79 in silver.
This is no doubt an achievement and — half a billion handsets from one factory alone? Fascinating stuff.
Alas my mother still doesn’t understand Nokia or it’s inebriated user interface. 10 years ago it was a piece of brilliance. Nowadays it simply doesn’t cut the mustard.
I keep on having to tell people that whilst it’s easy to think that the future is mobile applications and self-configured mobile experience, it’s ..er.. going to be QUITE a long time before your average normob hits the figures and starts paying for anything other than ringtones via their Nokia handset.
Working on the basis that every one of the 50 million devices knocked out by the Komarom factory this year is carrying the dull-as-ditchwater Nokia UI, and on the basis of a usable life of 3 years, we’re going to have to wait until 2012/2013 before those 50 million customers come back on to the marketplace and get to play with something a little more exciting.
That said, there’s a reason why I’ve standardised on a Nokia N95 8GB as my ‘telephone’. It works.