Nokia to open Joint Research Lab in Switzerland

[Ewan]

Following on Symbian's announcement last week, Nokia have also published
plans to establish a research lab in Lausanne and Zurich, in
association with the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology. This center
will start by looking at pervasive communications, using all the human
senses, user context and interaction with internet services... which
sounds like a mix of Ovi's approach to bringing on board platforms such
as Facebook and MySpae, but also extending the S60 sensor platform
we're expecting to see later in the year.

Read on in the full article.

[layla17]

It will be interesting to see what types of new technologies that will result from this new joint research lab.

At the same time, Nokia closes facilities in germany and transfers thousands of jobs to rumania where workers earn very low wage. I read that nokia want their rumanian workers to work more than than it is allowed by rumanian law. So this is what nokia thinks of "social responsibility". Sadly, most companies act like that so it's not possible to switch to another product with similiar functionality. Or does anyone know where Sony Ericsson or Apple build their phones? Apple chooses cheap asian factories i think.

[krisse]

At the same time, Nokia closes facilities in germany and transfers thousands of jobs to rumania where workers earn very low wage.

Would it be better to not have those jobs going to Romania at all?

Romania is a much poorer country than Germany, it needs those jobs more than Germany does.

Companies switch to the cheapest possible supplier because consumers buy the cheapest possible product. If consumers were more ethical about where products were made then companies would be too, but consumers aren't really ethical at all. It's our fault as much as the manufacturers'.

I used to be involved with a Fair Trade group, but it was virtually impossible to get people to pay more for the same products. At best they might occasionally buy some FT coffee or bananas, but that was only a tiny percentage of their overall grocery bill.

By and large, people buy whatever's cheapest and don't care how much the workers are paid. They might say they care when you ask them, but when it comes to actually paying for things they stop caring.