Nokia Cutting Multimedia R&D Staff

Nokia said this week it is going to lay off some of its research and development staff.

Most of the layoffs will be in its Multimedia Group, the division of the company that makes handsets designed mostly to play music and video.

This is also the group that develops the N-Gage line of gaming-oriented smartphones. It is not known what effect these layoffs will have on the development of future N-Gage models.

Nokia wants to reduce its R&D costs to between 9 and 10 percent of its net sales by the end of 2006.

"Our multimedia strategy remains unchanged," said Anssi Vanjoki, Executive Vice President, Multimedia, Nokia. "We see very strong momentum in our smart imaging business and while games, music, and media are still in a more early development phase, we continue to see great potential also in these areas."

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