Nokia moves 3000 Symbian devs, to lay off 4000 other employees

Today Nokia announced it's moving 3000 Symbian developers to Accenture group and dismisses 4000 other employees, but promises them a solid social responsibility program to help them through.

Nokia plans a big reorganization and moving 3000 Symbian devs to their partnering company Accenture is part of that plan. Another 4000 developers (mostly Symbian and MeeGo R&D) will be relieved of their duties in phases by 2012.

Accenture is a huge management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company, which has previously worked with Nokia. It is now taking under its hood 3000 Symbian developers, who will continue to work on the platform and its future versions. This is not Symbian’s death by any means since Nokia plans to manufacture more than 150 million Symbian smartphones in the upcoming years. It's more like outsourcing than anything with them providing the workforce. Accenture is also a key Nokia partner on future WP7 software solution development.

The next big announcement concerns 4000 Nokia employees around the world, who are getting laid off by the end of 2012. About 1400 people will be dismissed from Nokia in Finland.

The R&D sites around the world are going to change their strategy to match the company’s new plans and goals – ruling the mobile market with Windows Phone 7 smartphones.

There is some good news for the unfortunate workers though – Nokia will take responsibility to help those people find a new job with a special social program. It will help the ex-employees find a job in a similar company or within Nokia itself, start their own business or continue their career in another company by co-funding programs or scholarships.

So, Nokia is changing and will probably continue to do so. Do you approve the new steps and how do you feel about taking Symbian outside Nokia?

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