So who is this company, Nokia, that we talk about all the time? How long have they been around? Have they always made phones? Do you ever wonder, or do you even care? Well, if you don’t care, then stop reading, cause that’s what this post is about.

I actually got most of this post from one of the commenters on my US 3G N95 post, DiLin, who runs the S603rd blog. He found a post from another blog containing 10 things you didn’t know about Nokia. Frankly, I’ve used Nokia handsets since the original 6120 and I didn’t know most of this stuff.

I’d bet alot of you didn’t know that Nokia started out as a paper company, and even made computer monitors and military boots! You can click here to read through the company’s history, or click the link below to find out 10 things you (and I) DIDN’T know about Nokia.

1)
The ringtone “Nokia tune” is actually based on a 19th century guitar
work named “Gran Vals” by Spanish musician Francisco Tárrega. The Nokia
Tune was originally named “Grande Valse” on Nokia phones but was
changed to “Nokia Tune” around 1998 when it became so well known that
people referred to it as the “Nokia Tune.”

2)
The world’s first commercial GSM call was made in 1991 in Helsinki over
a Nokia-supplied network, by Prime Minister of Finland Harri Holkeri,
using a Nokia phone.

3)
Nokia is currently the world’s largest digital camera manufacturer, as
the sales of its camera-equipped mobile phones have exceeded those of
any conventional camera manufacturer.

4)
The “Special” tone available to users of Nokia phones when receiving
SMS (text messages) is actually Morse code for “SMS”. Similarly, the
“Ascending” SMS tone is Morse code for “Connecting People,” Nokia’s
slogan. The “Standard” SMS tone is Morse code for “M” (Message).

5)
The Nokia corporate font (typeface) is the AgfaMonotype Nokia Sans
font, originally designed by Eric Spiekermann. Its mobile phone User’s
Guides Nokia mostly used the Agfa Rotis Sans font.

6)
In Asia, the digit 4 never appears in any Nokia handset model number,
because 4 is considered unlucky in many parts of Southeast/East Asia.

7)
Nokia was listed as the 20th most admirable company worldwide in
Fortune’s list of 2006 (1st in network communications, 4th non-US
company).

8. Unlike other
modern day handsets, Nokia phones do not automatically start the call
timer when the call is connected, but start it when the call is
initiated. (Except for Series 60 based handsets like the Nokia 6600)

9)
Nokia is sometimes called aikon (Nokia backwards) by non-Nokia mobile
phone users and by mobile software developers, because “aikon” is used
in various SDK software packages, including Nokia’s own Symbian S60 SDK.

   

10)
The name of the town of Nokia originated from the river which flowed
through the town. The river itself, Nokianvirta, was named after the
old Finnish word originally meaning sable, later pine marten. A species
of this small, black-furred predatory animal was once found in the
region, but it is now extinct.

   

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