Nokia asks the man who produced its last hit to produce an "iPhone killer"

In March 2007, 3 months before the Apple iPhone entered our consciousness, Nokia's N95 was launched and became a mega hit for the company. The phone was Nokia's first model to be equipped with GPS. Other features included web browsing, a 5MP camera with Carl Zeiss optics, Wi-Fi and music and video players. Nokia marketed the device as a multimedia computer and the N95 became a hit with more than 10 million units sold. Thanks to the N95, Nokia's margins on devices sold reached 21%.  June came, Apple launched the touchscreen iPhone and Nokia lost the momentum it had gained. Thanks to Apple and RIM, Nokia's margin's for the first quarter of 2010 dropped to 12.1%

In an attempt to produce a legitimate "iPhone killer", Nokia is turning back to the man who produced the N95. Anssi Vanjoki, a 20 year Nokia employee, shifted to a marketing position after all phone divisions were merged into a single business. Now that smartphones will be a separate division again, Vanjoki will be at the helm, seeking another big winner for Nokia. This was a task that eluded him following the launch of the iPhone. In August 2007, the Finnish based firm followed up with a series of music phones. Foreshadowing the current patent infringement case between Nokia and Apple, Vanjoki amazingly said at the time, "If there is something good in the world, we copy with pride." He also made some critical comments about the N97 when he commented, "The N97 has been a tremendous success for us when it comes to how many did we ship and how much money did we collect,” he said. “But it has been a tremendous disappointment in terms of the experience quality for the consumers, something we did not anticipate.” Besides having Apple's iPhone to deal with, Vanjoki will have the sizzling hot Android OS to worry about. His first new device will be the Nokia N8, a touchscreen handset that uses a more finger friendly version of the Symbian OS. The N8 offers free television, navigation and maps.

Nokia N8 Specifications

source: BusinessWeek