Nokia Multimedia to cut up to 350 R&D jobs

Nokia's Multimedia Business Group revealed yesterday that it will "streamline" global research and development activities, which means it will cut up to 250 R&D jobs in Finland and another 100 or so worldwide, company officials told the Financial Times. Nokia's goal is to cut R&D expenses down to 9-10 percent of net sales by the end of 2006. Layoffs will take place slowly over 2005, and the N-Gage producer also plans to stop development of more-specialized products, such as phone-independent cameras, music units, and image-ware necklaces. Anssi Vanjoki, executive vice president of multimedia for Nokia, said the announcement does not change the company's overall multimedia plans: "While games, music and media are still in a more early development phase, we continue to see great potential also in these areas."