The Rise, Rule and Epic Fall of Nation’s “First” Mobile Phone Brand

Let me guess, your first mobile phone was a Nokia?

Well it was the case for many of us and we used it for a couple of years! And why not, it took two seconds to switch on, batteries lasted for days, dropping your phone didn’t stop your heartbeat and it got you hooked to mobile gaming for the first time. Nokia came to India in 1995 and hit the ground running when on the 31st of July the same year it made history when India’s first ever call from a mobile phone was made from a Nokia phone. It was a style statement, craze and a revolution all rolled in one and we were in love with our Nokia handset. You either had one or you wanted one. In the last two decades, Nokia has seen the best of times and the worst of times. The fast growing smartphone market in the country around the end of ‘Y2K’ marked the end of the feature rich phones of once the world's biggest maker of mobile phones. While Nokia is planning a comeback we would never forget the first phone that gave us a glimpse of what mobile technology could be. Nokia phones would always hold a special place in our hearts.

Here’s a look at the journey of India’s first mobile phone brand