Nokia has certainly sailed through its fair share of trouble and its also not the first time that the Finnish company is letting go of people. According to Reuters, Nokia is planning to lay off 310 employees from the Nokia Technologies unit and bring it’s virtual reality camera “OZO” to a grinding halt along with the hardware.
The unit will remain focused on digital health and brand licensing. Nokia had recently taken a plunge into the VR market, and the OZO camera was meant to help expand its presence in the digital media business. Currently, the unit has about 1,090 employees and the layoffs literally translate to 30 percent cut down to the workforce. Nokia is planning to let go of employees housed in Finland, the United States, and Britain locations.
This is what Nokia had to say, “The slower-than-expected development of the VR market means that Nokia Technologies plans to reduce investments and focus more on technology licensing opportunities.” The OZO lineup was created to help in making 3D movies and games that can cater to the Virtual Reality segment. The OZO camera was treated to a series of price cuts and is currently retailing at $23,000. This also reminds me of how Nokia was touting its OZO Audio during the Nokia 8 launch and I just can’t help but wonder what happens to it.
That being said, the most obvious question is how sustainable is VR? Well from the looks of it VR seems to be pretty sustainable for the professional industry, but the same doesn’t hold good for the home market, at least not yet. Apart from the initial investment for the VR Headset one also needs to invest in a PC that is equally powerful and the content as well.
Source:Reuters
