Nokia phone maker HMD Global director resigns

The director of Nokia licensee HMD Global is retiring. Florian Seiche has led the Finnish company since 2017. He does not say why he has now decided to leave the company. Nothing is known about a successor yet.

Seiche only says that it is ‘time for his next chapter’. The CEO does not say why he is leaving or whether the decision to leave was made by him or by the company. Seiche led HMD Global for five years, starting six years ago. Seiche joined just after the start, coming over from Microsoft and before that he was at Nokia.

HMD Global got off to a flying start in the smartphone market, focusing on smartphones with a relatively clean Android interface and long support. With feature phones, the company tapped into nostalgia by creating modern editions of classic Nokia phones, such as the 3310.

Since then, its market share has declined, while a move into the high-end smartphone market with the 9 Pureview largely failed. The phone came out much later than intended and the upgrade to Android 11 did not work. Since then, HMD stopped making more expensive phones. The latest announcement from HMD under Seiche is the Circular subscription, according to the manufacturer a subscription focused on sustainability.