Nokia is a leader who is known to take the initiative. Starting from its genesis: its founder sold off profitable business in cables, paper to launch Nokia. Nokia was the first to enable of WiFi & VoIP on its mobiles. And recently, it was the first mobile device maker who officially declared that it would "enable rich mobile experience on the broadest range of devices".

And soon, Nokia will become the first mobile device manufacturer to modify its corporate structure to align itself with the ongoing convergence of mobile & Internet.

Opportunities & Threats
In a way, Nokia's re-structuring is nothing but a re-arrangement of its existing (including recently acquired) business units to match with the new growth opportunities as well as meet the new threats.

In other words, Nokia's re-structuring is also a response to the strong competition . Whether it's the acquisitions by competitor Sony Ericsson or new entrant Apple's iPhone. (Apple's iPhone in particular, is known for its extreme integration with applications like iTunes & Google applications which in turn, is expected to raise the bar by several notches!)

To further complicate matters, customer expectations from mobile devices are on the ascent. (Soon it may be mandatory to introduce "high-end features" like high resolution camera. MP3 player & high quality display on almost all mobile phone models.)

So it makes good sense for Nokia to sharpen its focus on consumers, enterprise & the internet - by combining its different existing units to form new business units.

Korean Newspapers' Landmark Decision Vis a vis News on Web Portals
Members of Korea's Online Newspaper Association* have agreed to restrict Web portals to retain news content from their newspaers for 7 days. This landmark agreement is expected to promote traffic to the online sites of newspapers.

* Most major Korean dailies are members of this association.

EC Goes On YouTube!
The European Commission jumps onto online video by launching its page on YouTube.com. To spread its messages audio-visually in multiple languages.

Doubts about the future of online video, anyone?