Nokia World 2012 will be held in Helsinki from September 25th to the 26th. The move from London to Nokia's home country of Finland comes after a tumultuous 2011. A year that saw the mighty Nokia hire its first foreign-born CEO and layoff thousands as it abandoned its home grown Symbian and MeeGo Harmattan operating systems in favor of an untested mobile OS from Microsoft. A decision that has thus far been met by plummeting marketshare and earnings from its once highly profitable smartphone business.
Sure, the change of venue for Nokia's most important annual event could be construed as an exercise of cold cost-cutting logistics. Come September, however, we suspect the event will be seen as a matter of national pride when the world's press floods into Helsinki in the same manner that consumers have jostled with unprecedented crowds for a glimpse at Nokia's revised Windows Phone handsets at the 2012 CES and MWC trade shows — looking on in anticipation as opposed to the bewilderment experienced in years past.