TOKYO Nokia was once the undisputed mobile phone king. But the emergence of the smartphone turned the industry on its head, forcing the suddenly struggling Finnish company to sell its mobile business to Microsoft in 2013.
"When we started that negotiation [with Microsoft] in February 2013, I was still a little bit optimistic on our chances, independently, in the smartphone business," recalled Risto Siilasmaa, Nokia's chairman. But after further analysis, he was convinced he had to shed the operations.
