From 1998 to 2012, Nokia dominated the cellphone market, peaking at 40 percent global share and selling its billionth phone in Nigeria in 2005. Based in Espoo, Finland, the company made one of every three handsets worldwide before offloading its division to Microsoft for a fraction of its peak value.

Iconic devices defined the era: the 3310 and its cousin the 3210 sold 280 million units with internal antennas, Snake, and custom ringtones. The 1100 became history's best-selling phone at 500 million units, prized for durability, a flashlight, and 400-hour standby.

Apple's iPhone launch on 9 January 2007 triggered an immediate Nokia response. Internal documents reveal the company recognized the multitouch threat within 24 hours, having tracked the technology since Jeff Han's 2006 TED demo. Yet Finnish cultural assumptions about glove use delayed touchscreen adoption.

Nokia's first touchscreen, the 5800 XpressMusic, arrived in late 2008—delayed and watered down. Despite seeing the disruption coming, organizational inertia ended 14 years of supremacy in an afternoon.