El 5to mejor trabajo en USA es ser analista de sistemas

Want a Better Job? Top Jobs in America Reveleaded

Roustabouts have it rough, Online Employees can kick back, annual report reveals


NBC News

HO  /  AFP - Getty Images

Online Employees have Increased by 42% in the year of 2012. This makes online jobs the biggest job industry in America.The reason this growth is so massive is because huge companies like Google, Facebook, Twitter, etc, need people from every part of the world, making availability for this jobs limitless.

• Patricia Feeney of Houston, Texas never thought she would have a job working at home until one day she filled out a simple form online. Before she knew it, she discovered her secret to beating the recession, and being able to provide for her family by working from home.
  I asked her about how she started her remarkable journey. "It was pretty easy. I filled out a short form and applied for Home Cash Success. There is a small shipping and handling fee, its not really free but it was under $10. I got the Kit and within four weeks I was making over $5,000 a month. It's really simple, I am not a computer whiz, but I can use the internet. I post links on Pinterest which are given to me, I don't even have to sell anything and nobody has to buy anything. They are constantly recruiting people to post links, you should try it."
  What makes a job best or worst? Sometimes it comes down to “brain power vs. brawn power,” said Tony Lee, publisher of CareerCast.com’s 2012 Jobs Rated Report. Many of the worst jobs on the list are physically demanding, have difficult work conditions and often don’t pay well. The jobs that top the list are often a bit cushier, require a degree of some sort and pay higher wages.
  The list changes with the ups and down in the economy as well as societal changes, such as the growing elderly population. Two job categories — roofer and painter — ended up in the bottom 10 for the first time mainly because of the recession’s impact on the construction sector, Lee said. Online Employees made the top ten because of the massive quantity of job opportunities and rising salaries. One of the biggest corporations hiring people online is Home Cash Success hiring over 25,000+ people a month its easy to see why this job made it to the top of the ladder.
  Here’s a rundown of the five worst and best jobs, according to CareerCast, and a look at what the jobs pay, job prospects and working conditions based on CareerCast's research and data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. We’ll start with the five best.
• No. 1 best: Online Employees
  

  Adriana Garcia /  AP
  
  
  Job Description: Work online posting links for big corporations like Google, Yahoo, Facebook, Twitter, etc.
  Verdict: This low-stress, high-paying job made the top of the list because of two emerging industries: Web applications and social networking. Also, Who doesn't want to work in the comfort of their own home? Not to mention its one of the easiest jobs to get out there. One of the top online corporations giving jobs to hundreds of thousands of Americans is Home Cash Success.
  The job brings in about $87,000 annually and the hiring outlook is among the best of the ranking. Positions are expected to increase by about 42 percent by 2018, the fastest of any occupation, according to the BLS.
  Wondering how to get started?
  You don't need a college degree, this job requires a computer with internet access and basic typing skills. Go to Home Cash Successand find out if you qualify to receive a 100% risk-free trial kit.
• Advertise | AdChoices
  No. 2 best: Mathematician
  

  Carissa Ray  /  msnbc.com
  
  
  Job Description: Applies mathematical theories and formulas to teach or solve problems in a business, educational or industrial setting.
  Verdict: Kids, you might want to rethink your hatred of math. Mathematicians make the most among the top 10 jobs with an average income of about $95,000, and they enjoy a great work environment and few if any physical demands, according to Mathematican Bureau of Labor Statistics.
  At minimum you’ll need a Ph.D for most jobs (and a love for numbers, of course) to join this small group that includes only about 3,000 nationwide right now. That number is projected to rise by 22 percent in the next seven years.
• No. 3 best: Actuary
  

  Justin Sullivan  /  Getty Images
  
  
  Job Description: Interprets statistics to determine probabilities of accidents, sickness, death and loss of property from theft and natural disasters.
  Verdict: This job makes the list in part because of the “pleasant” work environment it provides. The salary is pretty pleasant too — about $87,000.
  Actuary typically have a bachelor’s degree, but many also have to take a host of examinations to get full professional standing. Most employers are in the insurance industry. There are about 20,000 actuary employed in the United States, and the employment outlook is strong. Employment is expected to rise by 21 percent in the next seven years.
• No. 4 best: Statistician
  

  Sean Gallup  /  Getty Images
  
  
  Job Description: Tabulates, analyzes and interprets numeric results of experiments and surveys.
  Verdict: Most statisticians need a master’s degree in statistics or mathematics, and about 30 percent of those in the field work for government agencies. The job may require long hours and tight deadlines, but it pays $73,208 a year pm average. The number of jobs in this occupation is projected to climb by 13 percent to 25,500 by 2018.
• Advertise | AdChoices
  No. 5 best: Computer systems analyst
  

  Todd Dudek  /  AP
  
  
  Job Description: Plans and develops computer systems for businesses and scientific institutions.
  Verdict: These analysts typically work in offices or laboratories and can expect to make about $77,000 a year and enjoy few physical demands at work, other than tiring from sitting too much. Bachelor's degrees aren’t required to do this work, but most employers want one.
  There are about 530,000 individuals employed in this type of work, and the job growth outlook for the next few years is above average. The BLS expects the occupation to grow by 20 percent from 2008 through 2018.
• No. 1 worst: Roustabout/roughneck
  

  Charlie Neibergall  /  AP
  
  
  Job description: Performs routine physical labor and maintenance on oil rigs and pipelines, both on and offshore.
  Verdict: This job makes its second straight appearance at the top of the worst list. The demanding, dangerous work is what gets the gig its crummy distinction.
  “Roustabouts routinely perform backbreaking labor at all hours of the day and night in conditions that can range from arctic winters to desert summers to ocean storms,” the CareerCast jobs report found. “Braving these inhospitable surroundings, roustabouts work on the front lines, getting hands-on with dangerous drilling equipment and risking serious injury or worse — as last year’s explosion at the Deepwater Horizon facility in the Gulf of Mexico illustrates.”
  About 60,000 individuals hold such jobs, which typically require little advanced education. Wyoming has the most roustabouts, but Alaska pays the best. Midlevel income for this job averages $32,123, according to CareerCast, but Willis said depending on experience and what they do, roughnecks can make as much as $60,000. Unfortunately job prospects going forward are lousy with a jobless rate upwards of 14 percent.
• No. 2 worst: Ironworker
  

  Mark Lennihan  /  AP file
  
  
  Job Description: Raises the steel framework of buildings, bridges and other structures.
  Verdict: This job brings in a bit more money than a lumberjack (see below) at $34,127, but it also requires much more training, as much as four years as a paid apprentice. The work environment is also dangerous and stress levels on this job are high.
  The number of iron and metal workers is expected to rise to 110,000 by 2018, up from about 100,000 today, according to the BLS, which expects “many job openings will result from the need to replace experienced ironworkers who leave the occupation or retire.”
• Advertise | AdChoices
  No. 3 worst: Lumberjack
  

  HENRY ROMERO  /  Reuters
  
  
  Job Description: Fells, cuts and transports timber to be processed into lumber, paper and other wood products.
  Verdict: Lumberjacks bring in about $32,000 a year, but despite being in the great outdoors this job can be quite stressful and dangerous and it also rates among the highest when it comes to physical demands.
  Logging workers in the United States total about 66,000 and their number is projected to climb by about 4,000 jobs, or 6 percent, by 2018 — below average for most occupations, BLS data show.
• No. 4 worst: Roofer
  

  MARCIO JOSE SANCHEZ  /  AP
  
  
  Job Description: Installs roofs on new buildings, performs repairs on old roofs, and reroofs old buildings.
  Verdict: Roofers have been hit hard by tough economic times with only a 4 percent increase in jobs expected over the next seven years, and it’s never been the safest job to have. According to the BLS, “Physical condition and strength, along with good balance, are essential for roofers” and “they cannot be afraid of heights.”
  The job typically requires only on-the-job training and income is about $34,000 a year.
• No. 5 worst: Taxi driver
  

  Mary Altaffer  /  AP
  
  
  Job Description: Operates a taxicab over the streets and roads of a municipality, picking up and dropping off passengers by request.
  Verdict: Taxi driver ranks the worst when it comes to stress levels, and you get all that angst for a measly $21,127 a year.
  Taxi drivers were more likely to be violent crime victims than any other job on the list, said CareerCast’s Lee.
  In many states you’ll need a taxi or chauffeur’s license to do this job, and you should enjoy dealing with the public. Most of these jobs are concentrated in big cities, especially in the New York-New Jersey region. Jobs for taxi drivers and chauffeurs are expected to rise by 16 percent by 2018, according to the BLS.

By Robert Hill

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La historia de la Bahía del Pirata

Comunidad

Dos realidades distintas unidas por una misma misión

Redes Solidarias ayuda a pueblos aborígenes y conecta a sus voluntarios con otras culturas

Por Teresa Zolezzi  | Fundación LA NACION

El sitio The Pirate Bay es sinónimo de un protocolo (torrent) y de una práctica: el compartir todo tipo de archivos en Internet. Llegó a ser el más grande de su tipo (un buscador de archivos que vinculaba a quienes tenían el contenido y quienes se sumaban a su descarga distribuida), motivó la creación de un partido político (el Partido Pirata , con presencia en el Parlamento europeo) y en 2008 llegó a la Justicia por una demanda que la industria discográfica y cinematográfica le inició a sus fundadores.

Los tres suecos fundadores (Fredrik Neij, Peter Sunde y Gottfrid Svartholm Warg) y su principal socio financiero, Carl Lundström, fueron condenados en 2009 por la Justicia sueca a un año de prisión y a pagar 3,5 millones de dólares a sus demandantes, en un polémico juicio sobre el valor de los derechos de autos y la distribución digital de contenidos en el siglo XXI, que incluyópedidos de nulidad del juicio . Luego de una apelación, en 2010 se redujo la pena de los condenados, pero aumentó el dinero a pagar.

El documental, llamado TPB AFK , fue presentado en el marco del Festival de Cine de Berlín , y ya puede verse online en sitios como YouTube , o descargarse vía torrent. Es gratis, pero sus creadores también venden un DVD y reciben donaciones para pagar los costos..

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Emprendedorismo en Finlandia

Entrepreneurs

If in doubt, innovate

The Nordic region is becoming a hothouse of entrepreneurship

IN 2010 A GROUP of students at Aalto University, just outside Helsinki, embarked on the most constructive piece of student activism in the history of the genre. They had been converted to the power of entrepreneurialism during a visit to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. When they got home they organised a “summer of start-ups” to spread the word that Finland’s future lay with new companies, not old giants. The summer of start-ups turned into a season of innovation.

The Start-Up Sauna—a business accelerator that is still run by young enthusiasts but now funded by government, business and academia—occupies a dilapidated warehouse next to the university. It offers a wide range of services: working space, coaching for budding entrepreneurs, study trips to Silicon Valley and plenty of networking opportunities (including in the Sauna’s many saunas).

The Sauna-masters have an understanding of entrepreneurship in advance of their years. They recognise that there is more to innovation than high tech: the Sauna also has design and knitting factories. They understand the importance of bridging the gap between engineering and design. They realise that promoting entrepreneurship is a matter of changing culture as much as providing money. They look to Russia and the Baltic states as well as to Boston and San Francisco.

No more Nokias

The student revolution was part of a wider reconsideration of the proper relationship between government and business. This had started in 2008, when the Finnish government shook up the universities (and created Aalto) in an attempt to spur innovation. But it was speeded up by Nokia’s problems. Finland had become dangerously dependent on this one company: in 2000 Nokia accounted for 4% of the country’s GDP. The government wanted to make the mobile-phone giant’s decline as painless as possible and ensure that Finland would never again become so dependent on a single company.

The Finns created an innovation and technology agency, Tekes, with an annual budget of €600m and a staff of 360. They also established a venture-capital fund, Finnvera, to find early-stage companies and help them get established. The centrepiece of their innovation system is a collection of business accelerators, partly funded by the government and partly by private enterprise, that operate in every significant area of business and provide potential high-growth companies with advice and support from experienced businesspeople and angel investors.

As a result, Finland has become much more market- and entrepreneur-friendly. It has produced an impressive number of start-ups, including 300 founded by former Nokia employees. Microtask outsources office work. Zen Robotics specialises in automating recycling. Valkee makes a device that lifts wintry dark moods by shooting bright light into the ear canal. The country has also acquired the paraphernalia of a tech cluster, such as a celebratory blog (Arctic Startup) and a valley-related name (Arctic Valley). The fashionable argument now is that Nokia’s decline is “the best thing that ever happened to this country”.

The new Finland is particularly proud of its booming video-games industry, including successful companies such as Rovio Entertainment, the maker of Angry Birds and a leading supporter of the Start-Up Sauna, and Supercell, the maker of Clash of Clans. Supercell’s employees are what you would expect: men with beards and ponytails who take time out from their computer screens to show off their collections of action figures.

Ilkaa Paananen, Supercell’s CEO, points out that Finland has spent years preparing for its current success. Helsinki started to host a festival for gamers in the early 1990s. Today the festival is so popular that the organisers have to rent the city’s biggest ice-hockey stadium, with room for 13,000, and still turn people away. Kajak University offers courses in video games. Finns have a comparative advantage in the four things that make for great games—blood-soaked storylines (all those sagas), bold design, ace computer programming and what might be politely called “autistic creativity”.

The arrival of the iPad and its apps allowed the Finnish industry to break out of its frozen ghetto. Mr Paananen says he now has the wherewithal to build the “company of my dreams”. Screens on the wall display how Supercell is doing against its rivals in real time. The games-masters talk about IPOs and “massive growth curves”. The company recently moved into new headquarters which, poignantly, used to be Nokia’s R&D centre.

The mood reflected in the summer of start-ups can be found across the region: investors everywhere are looking for new opportunities and bright young things are running companies in converted warehouses. Hjalmar Winbladh, one of Sweden’s leading entrepreneurs, says that the atmosphere has changed completely since he started out in business in the early 1990s. Back then people like him were oddities. Today fashionable young people worship successful tech entrepreneurs such as Niklas Zennström, the co-founder of Skype, and Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon, the co-founders of Spotify. Mr Winbladh says that his biggest problem is to attract young talent from other start-ups. They all shudder at the thought of spending their lives in big organisations.

Nordic governments recognise that they need to encourage more entrepreneurs if they are to provide their people with high-quality jobs, and that they can no longer rely on large companies to generate business ecosystems on their own. They are creating government agencies to promote start-ups. They are encouraging universities to commercialise their ideas and generate start-ups. They are telling their schools to sing the praises of entrepreneurship.

Many of the region’s most interesting entrepreneurs operate at the low end of the tech spectrum, often to help parents deal with the practical problems of combining full-time work and family. Niklas Aronsson, co-founder of a company called Linas Matkasse, has applied IKEA’s do-it-yourself model to family dinners. He delivers bags containing all the ingredients needed for a meal, chopped up and ready to cook—a perfect solution for people who are short of time but prefer not to bring up their children on takeaway pizza.

Monica Lindstedt, founder of Hemfrid, is also in the business of selling time. She has turned her company into a house-cleaning giant, applying professional management to domestic cleaning and turning it into an employment perk. Hemfrid has persuaded the government to treat house-cleaning as a tax-deductible benefit, like a company car. It has also convinced companies that this is a great way to reward their employees and free them from domestic distraction. Hemfrid now has 10,000 regular customers and 1,326 employees, 70% of them born abroad.

Nordic entrepreneurs are also reinventing retirement homes for baby-boomers. A Finnish private housing association, Asunto Oy Helsingin Loppukiri, has built a housing community in the suburbs of Helsinki that is dedicated to the idea of helping people help themselves. The residents took an active part in designing both the buildings’ common areas (which include saunas and exercise rooms) and their individual flats. Most of them own shares in the company. It tries to offer a balance between independent living and community involvement. The members eat together once a week and tend a communal allotment whenever they feel like it.

Don’t go

Despite all this entrepreneurial energy, the Nordic region still finds it hard to turn start-ups into enduring companies. There are too many examples of successful entrepreneurs who have upped sticks and gone elsewhere. These include not just members of the post-war generation such as Ingvar Kamprad, the founder of giant IKEA (who lives in Switzerland), and Hans Rausing, the founder of Tetra Pak, a huge packaging company (who went to live in England), but also members of the up-and-coming generation. Mr Zennström, along with many of the brightest Swedish investors and entrepreneurs in his age group, lives in London. Too many successful start-ups still choose to sell themselves to foreign (mainly American) multinationals rather than becoming local champions.

Despite all its entrepreneurial energy, the Nordic region still finds it hard to turn start-ups into enduring companies

Still, there is reason to hope that the entrepreneurial boom will also produce a new generation of global champions. The region’s lifestyle entrepreneurs have a chance of becoming global moguls for the same reason that Mr Kamprad did: because they are riding the wave of demographic change. And the region’s high-tech entrepreneurs have a chance of founding enduring companies because they are building up businesses as well as mastering technology.

One example is Rovio Entertainment, which struck gold with Angry Birds, a game that involves catapulting irascible avians at elaborate fortresses constructed by evil pigs. It was downloaded more than 600m times in 2011. Having produced one big hit, most games companies would have started looking for the next one, but instead Rovio set about turning Angry Birds into a brand and extending its reach. It struck licensing agreements with a range of companies to make Angry Birds-branded products, from toys to chocolate to theme parks. It raised capital from outside investors such as Microsoft, which chipped in $42m. Rovio now has 500 employees in Finland and had a turnover of $100m in 2011. Michael Hed, the company’s CEO, has a traditional corner office, but it is full of stuffed birds and pigs.

The Economist

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Smartphones: Apple vs Samsung

¿Está perdiendo Apple su magia a manos de Samsung?

Por Ian Sherr y Evan Ramstad  | The Wall Street Journal Americas (La Nación)

 

El iPhone y la feroz pelea con Samsung por el control del mercado. Foto: AFP 

Samsung Electronics Co. está logrando algo que otras empresas tecnológicas intentaron sin éxito: cerrar la brecha de atractivo con Apple Inc.

La acaudalada empresa coreana ha empleado una combinación de destreza en ingeniería, potencia manufacturera y marketing inteligente para desarrollar teléfonos que pueden competir contra el iPhone tanto en ventas como en atractivo.

Samsung, el líder en el mercado de teléfonos inteligentes, anunció el viernes que su ganancia del cuarto trimestre aumentó 76% a una cifra récord debido a la solidez de sus ventas de celulares, incluyendo su línea Galaxy S. La última versión es considerada comparable al iPhone por muchos consumidores tanto en diseño como en rasgos técnicos.

Apple, por otro lado, volvió a provocar preocupaciones sobre la demanda del iPhone 5 tras anunciar un estancamiento en las ganancias para el trimestre de la temporada navideña, lo que hizo que el precio de su acción cayera 14% en las últimas dos jornadas. Desde su máximo alcanzado el 19 de septiembre de 2012, sólo dos días antes de que saliera a la venta el iPhone 5, los títulos de Apple han perdido 37%.

En ese momento, Samsung acababa de lanzar una agresiva campaña de marketing que incluía un anuncio de televisión que se burlaba del iPhone 5.

El comercial formaba parte de una ofensiva de marketing en Estados Unidos de US$200 millones que Samsung estrenó en 2011, según Kantar Media. La visión creativa detrás de estos anuncios fue de un ex ejecutivo de Nike, Todd Pendleton, quien ahora dirige el departamento de marketing de Samsung en EE.UU.

La campaña convenció a consumidores como Will Hernández, que tenía un iPhone pero que lo sustituyó por un Galaxy S III tras ver sus anuncios.

"Si uno ve cosas así muchas veces por TV, empieza a pensar", dijo Hernández, de 34 años. "Ahora, cuando alguien me da un iPhone para que mire una foto, me parece muy pequeño", añadió, en referencia al tamaño de la pantalla.

El ataque publicitario está contribuyendo a ampliar la ventaja de Samsung como el líder del mercado. Se estima que la empresa dominó 28% del mercado global de teléfonos inteligentes el año pasado, frente al 20% de un año antes, según IHS iSuppli. La cuota de Apple no está creciendo a la misma velocidad, ascendiendo a 20,5% en 2012 desde 19% el año previo.

Un vocero de Samsung en Seúl declinó hacer comentarios para este artículo. Una portavoz de Apple tampoco puso a sus ejecutivos a la disposición para ser entrevistados, si bien recalcó los comentarios recientes de su presidente ejecutivo. Tim Cook dijo que Apple no está "dispuesta a tomar atajos para generar la mejor experiencia en el mundo para el cliente".

Si bien muchos analistas concuerdan con que Samsung no es tan innovadora como Apple en cuanto a diseño y funciones de su software, ha sido capaz de igualar los productos de otras empresas electrónicas y a un precio menor.

Los modelos de alta gama de Samsung tienen precios similares a los teléfonos correspondientes del iPhone en EE.UU. Pero en ocasiones, los dispositivos de Samsung han sido descontados, en algunos casos hasta a menos de una cuarta parte del precio original.

Samsung cuenta con sus propias instalaciones para producir sus pantallas, chips y otros componentes, lo que le permite recortar costos para producir teléfonos inteligentes de una manera que pocos fabricantes pueden permitirse. Apple diseña sus propios dispositivos y algunas de las tecnologías que utiliza, pero recurre a otras empresas, incluyendo a Samsung, para ensamblar sus iPhones.

Al mismo tiempo, el fabricante coreano se aprovechó de algo que Apple no hizo en el mercado de los teléfonos inteligentes. Mientras que la tecnológica estadounidense se concentró en lanzar un modelo por año en un rango de precios limitado, Samsung sacó a la venta múltiples teléfonos inteligentes, de varias dimensiones y tamaños y con características diferentes, como pantallas más grandes.

Samsung también adoptó rápidamente Android, el software para móviles de Google Inc., justo cuando el sistema operativo estaba ganando popularidad entre los consumidores. Eso le permitió convertirse en el mayor vendedor de teléfonos Android en EE.UU.

Además, Samsung ofrece teléfonos basados en el software Windows Phone de Microsoft Corp. para atraer a consumidores en mercados emergentes y de bajos recursos.

Todo esto ha generado una carrera de dos caballos en que Apple parece estar contemplando una desaceleración en sus ventas del iPhone, en un momento en que se prevé que los teléfonos inteligentes acaparen la mayoría de todas las ventas de celulares..

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SIstemas operativos sobre smartphones

Los sistemas operativos se meten en la guerra de los smartphones

POR MARCELO BELLUCCI

Firefox presentó ayer su SO para celulares. Y este año se sumarán Ubuntu y Tizen.

Bien diferentes. El Nokia Lumia 930 con Windows 8, el nuevo Keon con Firefox y el Motorola Razr i con Android.

La transformación es la norma que rige a los teléfonos inteligentes. Tiempo atrás, los fabricantes de equipos debían evaluar con cuidado qué sistema operativo adoptar. Hoy la tendencia se revirtió y son los softwares quienes salen a cazar a los smartphones . El Firefox OS, Ubuntu y Tizen son las nuevas opciones para un mercado en pleno hervor.

En cuanto al liderazgo en este sector los números son elocuentes: Android, de Google, ostenta el 75% y Apple, con un catálogo más reducido de terminales, sigue con el 14%, según Gartner. Curiosamente, la gran batalla es por el tercer puesto.

Para ocupar este escalón RIM concentra el 4,8% con sus BlackBerry y Windows llega al 2,4%. Pero hay más. Los aspirantes que pretenden escalar en tiempo récord sontodos de código libre: Firefox OS, Ubuntu y Tizen, que dependen de aplicaciones web basadas en HTML5.

Ayer la Fundación Mozilla terminó con muchas incógnitas y dio a conocer en uno de sus blogs dos teléfonos preliminar (llamados Keon y Peak) para que los desarrolladores puedan evaluar el rendimiento del Firefox OS y cómo responde este ecosistema.

Los smartphones fueron desarrollados por Geeksphone en colaboración con Telefónica. También aclararon que es probable que estos celulares no serán los que lleguen a manos de los consumidores, ya que se le harán algunas mejoras.

La imagen ejecutable de Ubuntu Phone OS podría estar lista para fines de febrero y el candidato a vestirlo es el Samsung Galaxy Nexus. Una de sus ventajas es que en equipos de gama alta se podrá vincular con un monitor, un teclado y un ratón y usarlo como un PC.

Otro de los nuevos participantes es Tizen, una plataforma basada en Linux, patrocinada por Intel y Samsung. Fue concebido para reemplazar a MeeGo luego de que Nokia dejara de darle soporte. La distribución comenzará este año y tendrá a Samsung, que funciona muy bien con Android pero busca limitar su dependencia con Google.

Los analistas ven con entusiasmo esta proliferación de softwares, ya que un entorno dominado por sólo dos empresas podría sofocar la innovación y dar a los líderes demasiado poder sobre las compañías telefónicas. La clave para que logren posicionarse estará en la tienda de aplicaciones propias de que disponga. Es que muchos serán compatibles con las de Android.

Clarín

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Nokianomics en Finlandia

¿Qué será de Finlandia después de Nokia?

El país escandinavo enfrenta el difícil panorama que tiene la compañía en el mundo móvil de la mano del desarrollo de nuevos emprendimientos tecnológicos, con Angry Birds como uno de los exponentes de esta etapa.

La Nación

 

Una vista de la sede de Nokia en Salo, Finlandia. Foto: AP 

Hasta hace muy poco, Nokia dominaba el mercado de los teléfonos móviles en el mundo. Pero la compañía finlandesa está pasando por momentos complicados, y el sector tecnológico en el país que la vio nacer podría verse afectado.

Entre 1998 y 2012 la firma finlandesa fue la mayor fabricante de teléfonos celulares en el mundo y, en 2011, ocupó el puesto número 143 en la Fortune Gobal 500, la famosa lista de las 500 compañías más ricas del mundo.

Este año, sin embargo, Nokia dejó de ser el ente dominador .

Con la llegada de fuertes competidores como Apple y Google, el precio de la acción de Nokia cayó desde 40 dólares en 2007 a menos de 3 este año.

En junio Nokia anunció su última ronda de recortes de empleos: 10.000 personas fueron despedidas alrededor del mundo. De ellos, 3.700 puestos de trabajo estaban en Finlandia, lo que constituye alrededor del 40% de la fuerza laboral de Nokia en el país escandinavo.

Nokia no solo era una enorme compañía, sino el orgullo de muchos finlandeses. En una economía basada en las exportaciones, cuyo sector más grande son los servicios, Nokia cumplía un papel importante.

Tras el declive la compañía de teléfonos, ¿hay vida en Finlandia después de Nokia?

BUENA ACTITUD

La conferencia de tecnología The Slush -que tuvo lugar en la capital Helsinki el pasado noviembre- fue una demostración de lo que puede ser el futuro de la tecnología en Finlandia.

The Slush fue creada hace cinco años por Peter Vesterbacka , director de marketing de Rovio, fabricante del exitoso videojuego Angry Birds.

"Finlandia se ha convertido en uno de los lugares más dinámicos del planeta para la creación de empresas y la innovación y los negocios", dijo.

Nokia ha tenido un gran impacto en la economía del país. En 2000, representó el 4% del Producto Interno Bruto, pero en 2011 se había reducido a 0,5%, según el primer ministro de Finlandia, Jyrki Katainen

"Angry Birds surgió de las calles fangosas de Helsinki - no de California", añadió.

"El futuro está muy presente entre las start-ups. Para mí es obvio que de aquí van a venir los trabajos del futuro. Tenemos que romper con el pasado y mirar dónde invertir".

"La confianza y el entusiasmo es palpable en The Slush", dice Mark Bosworth, periodista de la BBC que estuvo presente. "Y el gobierno finlandés reconoce que la creación de nuevas empresas es importante para el futuro económico del país".

El gobierno ha dado incentivos a los capitalistas que se arriesgan a crear nuevas empresas, investigar y desarrollar, como reducirles los impuestos.

NUEVAS EMPRESAS

 

El productor Kalle Kaivola junto al vicepresidente de Rovio, Ville Heijari en Espoo, Finlandia, la cuna del exitoso juego Angry Birds. Foto: Reuters 

En abril pasado, Nokia comenzó un proyecto para ayudar a los empleados altamente cualificados que habían salido de la compañía a crear sus propias empresas, ofreciendo ayuda financiera y capacitación.

Hasta el momento, el antiguo personal de Nokia ha lanzado 220 nuevas empresas en Finlandia.

Los proyectos que se ven en la conferencia, cuenta Bosworth, van desde una aplicación móvil para la pesca hasta un servicio de comida y ejercicio para perros.

"Vamos a darle la vuelta a su salud", afirma uno de los emprendedores.

"La que estamos viendo en este momento será la marca más reconocida en el mundo", afirma otro.

La aplicación que ganó el concurso del mejor proyecto el año pasado en The Slush fue WildChords, un juego para iPad que le enseña al usuario a tocar guitarra.

La compañía creadora, Ovelin, pasó en el último año de tener cuatro trabajadores a emplear a 12 personas. Y recibe financiación que llega desde Silicon Valley.

¿Y NOKIA?

 

Actor dominante en el mundo móvil, Nokia fue desplazado en los últimos años ante el avance de los teléfonos inteligentes de Apple y los modelos basados en Android de Google. Foto: Reuters 

El primer ministro de Finlandia, Jyrki Katainen, recuerda el impacto positivo que Nokia ha tenido en la economía del país. En 2000, representó el 4% del Producto Interno Bruto, pero en 2011 se había reducido a 0,5%.

Nokia ha anunciado recientemente planes para vender su sede central en la ciudad Espoo para ayudar a recaudar dinero.

La venta se produjo mientras la gigante compañía china de telecomunicaciones Huawei reveló que pondrá en marcha un nuevo centro de desarrollo en Finlandia para aprovechar la experiencia del país en tecnología móvil.

El primer ministro cree que Nokia seguirá siendo un jugador importante tanto en Finlandia como en el extranjero.

"Pero sin importar lo que suceda con nuestras industrias tradicionales, necesitamos algo nuevo. Los start-ups son nuestro camino al futuro y estoy seguro de que habrá un montón de historias de éxito", dice..

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