Nokia Corporation (NOK) to Add 2 Phones, Move European HQ

Nokia Corporation (NYSE:NOK) CEO Stephen Elop has been busy trying to not only keep his company alive (laying off thousands of workers earlier this year) but also trying to ignite a revival of the handset maker in the mobile phone – and more specifically, the smartphone – marketplace. Now, two other recent announcements confirm again that Elop is doing both jobs simultaneously.

Nokia Corporation (NYSE:NOK), as part of its new strategic initiative and company reorganization, announced plans to move its central and eastern Europe headquarters from Vienna, Austria, to Budapest, Hungary. With Europe serving as Nokia’s largest current market – responsible for about 30 percent of the company’s total sales in the second quarter of 2012 –  a move like this would have to be carefully planned so as to not cause too many disruptions. However, the company has said it was already closing one factory in Hungary.

This decision was still in the “planning phase,” so no details about the move were made by Nokia Corporation (NYE:NOK) – when the move would take place, whether there would be transfers or layoffs of employees, etc. The company would only say that it would retain a sales force in Austria after the move is made.

While Nokia Corporation (NYSE:NOK) reorganizes itself on one side of the world, it is looking to revitalize itself on the other side of the world. A couple of sources have reported that the company would unveil two new phones to its Lumia line at its joint press conference with Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) Sept. 5 in New York. All that is being reported is that the new models are codenamed “Arrow” and “Phi,” with the latter being a top-of-the-line phone made available through AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T), and the former serving as a mid-level phone for AT&T and T-Mobile USA customers. Both are expected to run the Windows 8 Phone operating system.

These just might be the news that continues the slowly building momentum of Nokia Corporation (NYSE:NOK) as it attempts a comeback in established markets for smartphones. Certainly some key investors have their eyes on this news, including hedge-fund managers like  Jim Simons of Renaissance Technologies.