Nokia History

Fredrik Idestam, Leo Mechelin founder of Nokia.

The predecessors of the modern Nokia were Nokia Company (Nokia Aktiebolag), Finnish Rubber Works Ltd (Suomen Gummitehdas Oy) and Finnish Cable Works Ltd (Suomen Kaapelitehdas Oy).

Nokia's history starts in 1865 when engineer Fredrik Idestam established a groundwood pulp mill on the banks of the Tammerkoski rapids in the town of Tampere, in south-western Finland, and started manufacturing paper.In 1868, Idestam built a second mill to the town of Nokia, fifteen kilometres (nine miles) west of Tampere by the Nokianvirta river, which had better resources for hydropower production. That is where the company got the name that it still uses today. In 1871, Idestam transformed his firm into a share company and founded Nokia Company with his close friend, statesman Leo Mechelin.

The name of the town, Nokia, originated from the river which flowed through the town. The river itself, Nokianvirta, was named after the archaic Finnish word originally meaning a small, dark-furred animal that lived on the banks of the Nokianvirta river. In modern Finnish, noki means soot and nokia is its inflected plural, although this form of the word is rarely if ever used. The old word, nois (pl. nokia) or nokinäätä ("soot marten"), meant sable. After sable was hunted to extinction in Finland, the word was applied to any dark-furred animal of the genus Martes, such as the pine marten, which are found in the area to this day.

At the end of the 19th century, Mechelin's wish to expand into the electricity business were at first thwarted by Idestam's opposition. Idestam retired from the management of the company in 1896.Later, Mechelin managed to convince most shareholders of his plans and became the company chairman (1898–1914), thus being able to realize his visions. In 1902, Nokia added electricity generation to its business activities.

The Nokia House, Nokia's head office located by the Gulf of Finland in Keilaniemi, Espoo, was constructed between 1995 and 1997. It is the workplace of more than 1,000 Nokia employees.

Historical logos

Nokia Company logo. Founded in Tampere in 1865, incorporated in Nokia in 1871.[29]	The brand logo of Finnish Rubber Works, founded in Helsinki in 1898.[30] Logo from 1965–1966.	The Nokia "arrows" logo, used before the "Connecting People" logo.
Nokia introduced its "Connecting People" advertising slogan, coined by Ove Strandberg.[109] This earlier version of the slogan used Times Roman SC (Small Caps) font.[110]	Nokia's current logo with the redesigned "Connecting People" slogan. This slogan uses Nokia's proprietary 'Nokia' font.	Nokia Siemens Networks logo. Founded in 2007.