Nokia said Friday that a streamlining effort could result in the elimination of as many as 330 positions from its research and development staff, or about 2 percent of its global R&D workforce.
Microelectronics research at Nokia.
(Credit: NOkia)The changes will likely hit up to 230 workers in the company's Oulu site in Finland and roughly 100 at its Copenhagen site. Nokia said it plans to offer voluntary severance packages to the affected workers and to find alternative jobs for as many people as possible.
The company currently employs more than 17,000 workers in its R&D business. It has 2,000 employees at the Oulu facility and 1,000 in Copenhagen.
Though Nokia still holds the top spot in the smartphone arena, its dominance has been eroded by competition from the likes of Apple and Research In Motion. A recent In-Stat report found that Nokia's share of the smartphone market had dropped to 35 percent in this year's second quarter compared with 50 percent in the prior year's quarter.
Another report from Strategy Analytics revealed that Apple had surpassed Nokia in cell phone profits during the third quarter, the first time that Nokia had fallen to second place.
Nokia's third-quarter results showed a net loss of $832 million, while sales dropped around 20 percent. Nokia Siemens, the network equipment maker run by Nokia and Siemens, has also been a drag on its owners, recently announcing its own layoffs and cost cuts as a result of its weak performance.
Pouring water from a pitcher into a glass is not just about transferring liquid from one container to another--at least not to Phil McKinney.
Phil McKinney
(Credit: HP)To the chief technology officer of Hewlett-Packard's personal systems group, it represents the challenge of doing the same with data. McKinney oversees research into the concept of "liquid media," in which data can be easily and effectively moved between different types of devices--in a way that is intelligent enough to tap the capabilities of each platform.
Known in HP as "the gadget guy," McKinney spoke with ZNet Asia on the sidelines of an HP media event on workstation technology. He discussed innovations for personal devices and why it "makes no sense" for HP to develop its own operating system.
Q: What area of your research focus is most challenging?
McKinney: The most challenging really would fall into the mobility and the economics--they are somewhat dependent on each other. If I can deliver a very compelling device that you can always carry with you and (that) gives you the most powerful PC experience--you're always connected and it's fairly simple to use--then I've hit the grand slam home run. But there are certain trade-offs you make--screen size, keyboard, input method, battery life, and connectivity.
Devices today are always some kind of a compromised device--never...perfect. I want a big screen, but it weighs too much. I want 50 hours of battery life, but I can't pick up the battery. Ultimately, it's how do you build a device that requires the user not to have to make any compromise.
Do you believe that will become a reality one day?
McKinney: The way we think about devices is...a chart, where the horizontal axis is what we call reach or mobility--size, shape, and battery life of a device. The vertical axis is richness--how rich an experience can you get, (factors such as) screen, color, video, and audio. On the upper-left corner (of the chart), you have the 50-inch LCD TV sets. On the (other extreme), you put a basic mobile phone. Now draw a line going from the TV down to the mobile phone, and there's a tradeoff between richness and reach. I'm giving up a little bit of richness (by changing) to a desktop...Then you move to the laptop and the (mini-notebook) and the smartphones. You're giving up richness for reach, and that's always a trade-off.
The ultimate objective is you want to get to the upper-right corner--ultimate reach, ultimate richness. There's got to be some fundamental breakthroughs to really make that happen. How do you get screens that can unfold, so I start out with a 3-inch screen but I can fold that out to a 30-inch so I can lay on a tabletop--those kinds of things.
Do you see current innovation for laptops as being skewed toward Netbooks?
McKinney: When we think about the mini-note or Netbook, depending on what term you want to use, we truly see it as a companion product. So it's not a situation where the mini-note is a replacement for an existing category. Prior to the mini-note's existence, people have a laptop and there's always this trade-off...(You want) higher performance and the ability to be mobile, but it's too heavy. And you couldn't afford to buy two notebooks to get you both options. But with the mini coming in, I can choose two different products solving two very different needs.
We think of the mini-note as really a step up from the smartphone--it's really that device that allows you to do things you can't do on your smartphone. For instance, I get e-mail on my phone, and certain e-mail (messages) that I read, I go "Hmm, that's going to be a long reply." So I'm going to wait till I get back to my PC to reply. Now with the mini-note, since it's small and light enough I carry with me most of the time, I can now simply crank up a reply.
There's a logical gap between the form factors, what we call "tweener" products--(such as) between a smartphone and between a laptop. There's an opportunity for lots of form factors and capabilities. These are the devices that are very user-specific--what's the function they are going to use (for or) what's their job. Are they simply (looking for) something that gives them a great browsing experience versus somebody that needs to run a number of applications.
There's a gap when you think about that dichotomy or range of form factors. The mini-notes or Netbooks are trying to be the first (to fill that gap) in their category. But we would anticipate there's going to be a whole variety of other kinds of form factors that are filling that space.
What are the chances of HP developing its own Netbook OS? There was a recent report about the company putting a customized Ubuntu version for the HP Mini 1000 Mi edition.
McKinney: (Laughs) I lost count of how many times I got asked that question.
When you think about...the amount of R&D, take for instance, Microsoft has put in over the life of the Windows operating system, there aren't many companies that can come out and fund that kind of an R&D level necessary. For HP, it's not about controlling all the pieces. It's about enabling the ecosystem...to drive innovation that matter to our customers.
In this case, we've got a phenomenal track record of working very well with (partners like) Microsoft. We delivered touch technology in the form of a TouchSmart product two years ago, and then worked with Microsoft on touch enablement for Windows 7...on the development of the capabilities and validating them. If Microsoft funds that R&D and puts those capabilities onto the base operating system, that's great, because now I'm going to refocus my touch R&D onto that user experience that sits on top of the operating system.
So, no, there's no interest in us creating our own operating system.
Nothing is compelling enough?
McKinney: Never say never, but let's put it this way. There's no interest today in developing our own operating system--it makes no sense given the amount of R&D.
Vivian Yeo of ZDNet Asia reported from Los Angeles.
Innovation can often come unexpectedly, so researchers should be given the freedom and opportunity to explore new ideas, says the head of Microsoft's research lab in Beijing.
As managing director of Microsoft Research Asia (MSRA), Hsiao-Wuen Hon leads a 10-year-old organization that is the software giant's flagship research arm in the region, responsible for some 350 researchers and engineers.
Hsiao-Wuen Hon, managing director, Microsoft Research Asia
(Credit: ZDNet Asia)Hon said that managing innovation in the Beijing-based facility is different from running an organization with set goals, because often the magic "spark" is stumbled upon accidentally.
His task in running the lab is a matter of finding the sweet spot between allowing the researchers enough freedom to find their inspirations, and making sure the organization amasses contributions worthy of being included in Microsoft's final products.
The Ph.D.-holder joined Microsoft as a senior researcher in 1995, and was appointed managing director of MSRA last year.
Touching on the 200 or so innovations the lab has contributed to Microsoft's products, Hon talked to ZDNet Asia about why the next wave of Microsoft's innovation will come from Asia.
Q: What research areas are keeping MSRA busy right now?
Hon: We are working on five main focus areas: first, on making a natural user interface, to incorporate gestures and handwriting into interaction with the computer--it's the holy grail of user interfaces. Second, we're working on multimedia technology, like compression technology. MSRA has made its name in this area over the last 10 years.
Third, we're working on data-intensive computing, which is the fundamental backend for what's popularly known as cloud computing. There is so much data to mine for research and functions like business intelligence.
Fourth is the current "killer app"--search advertising. We all use search engines daily. The competition is fierce now with other players like Google and Yahoo. Microsoft wants to perfect this technology.
Fifth is what I classify into fundamentals: computing, networking, and so on. You need a sturdy foundation in this to support any R&D in the lab.
Which of these areas is MSRA dedicating the most resources to?
Let me say first that the importance of research shouldn't be measured by the number of people working on it. Each of the five areas are as important as another. And everything intertwines, in R&D. For example, multimedia technology may be used to search an audio clip for better indexing, giving a better search. So innovation may not come from just one area.
But with the competition, especially in the area of search technology, I'll say we have dedicated the most resources to the fourth and fifth areas--data-intensive computing and search advertising.
How do you manage your researchers? Do they have targets to meet?
Managing researchers comes with unique challenges. The most important discovery will usually be something that catches you by surprise.
We may put a lot of resources into one area, but we know that some time, somewhere, some kid will surprise us with the next big thing--hopefully, that kid will be at MSRA.
So every researcher should be given the opportunity to surprise. We need to give them freedom so that ideas can bear fruit.
Moreover, we know not every project can be successful. In fact, if you succeed every time, you fail, because it means you didn't take any risks. If you take every action knowing the outcome, that is not research, that is product development.
At the same time, Microsoft is a results-driven organization. So I recommend that the risky projects, with no foreseeable outcome for the next year or two, be taken on by senior researchers--with the eventual responsibility of their project still belonging to them when the time comes, of course.
Junior researchers are encouraged to work on less risky projects, so that they can prove themselves and deliver results within a reasonable time.
Are there unique qualities to being in Asia for MSRA, compared to other Microsoft research facilities in the world?
I think the 21st century is an exciting time for research in Asia. We are transitioning from "made in China" to "innovated in China."
Asia is full of smart and hardworking people, especially in science and technology, so talent-wise, it's a very rich research ground.
Also, because of Asia's growing population, it is just a matter of time before the market in the region becomes the biggest in the world. So it is very important for Asia to be at the center of Microsoft's innovation strategy.
In fact, I believe the next wave of Microsoft's innovation will come from Asia.
As we move toward a knowledge-based economy, the growing of knowledge is a key success factor to maintain our edge for Asia's people.
Victoria Ho of ZDNet Asia reported from Singapore.
India is starting to assert itself as a center of high-tech innovation, according to a study set to be released Monday morning.
A talent pool of engineers working in research and development that barely existed 15 years ago has blossomed to 250,000 people, more than 140,000 just in Bangalore, said Vamsee Tirukkala, co-founder of the consulting company Zinnov, which conducted the study. That's second only to Silicon Valley. And as Indian ex-patriots return home and new college graduates stay home rather than read to regions such as Silicon Valley, as they have in the past, those numbers are only expected to grow, Tirukkala said.
"The brain drain 10 years ago is actually helping the market today," he said. "These are the people going back today...bringing domain expertise with them. The opportunities in India have dramatically increased for them."
If there's a point to be taken for Silicon Valley in Tirukkala's admittedly enthusiastic report it's one that Valley leaders have discussed for years: The next real competitor for high-tech leadership won't be another American tech hub like Massachusetts' Route 128 corridor or North Carolina's Research Triangle Park. It will be in a developing region such as India's Bangalore.
The growth in R&D investment in India, is perhaps the report's most interesting data point. India's high-tech industry may have gotten its start in call center outsourcing, giant services business, and basic "grunt" software coding, but that's beginning to change. R&D offshoring to India is currently worth an estimated $9.35 billion, according to the report, and that's expected to more than double to $21.4 billion within the next four years.
Interestingly, American companies that have been moving more R&D work to India will continue to do so, but for a reason that is perhaps different than the cost-savings that drove them over the last decade: they want to tailor products for the growing local market, and the best way to do that is to have local people who understand cultural and business differences doing the work.
Does that mean Bangalore is going to surpass Silicon Valley for tech industry leadership anytime soon? No. The Valley still receives, by a wide margin, more venture capital investment than any other region in the world, and the big tech companies and universities that call the Bay Area home aren't going anywhere.
- prev
- 1
- next
