The influx of new software, design and consulting companies by ex-Nokia employees will certainly have some kind of effect. With its Bridge Program, Nokia encou

The influx of new software, design and consulting companies by ex-Nokia employees will certainly have some kind of effect. With its Bridge Program, Nokia encouraged those that were laid off to become entrepreneurs by giving away free training and grants. http://publications.theseus.fi/handle/10024/52495 http://publications.theseus.fi/handle/10024/52495 The grants from the Bridge program are running out. At the same time, the government needs to reduce its spending by around 10%. Our tech sector and startups are heavily financed through government controlled institutions that will certainly face budget cuts. Soon we'll be in a situation, where there are hundreds of very capable companies in dire financial situations. I run a small web application development company in Oulu, Finland. I started the company in 2009, a bit before Nokia's struggles started to materialize. We're a 3 person development team specializing in developing large scale javascript applications. One designer, two developers. I'm terrified. I'm scared of the influx of competition. I'm scared that local demand will dry up. Sometimes I'm certain that the sky will fall down. At the same time I see a lot of potential for co-operation with the new companies. Finding employees should definitely be a lot easier now. The startups haven't tied themselves to just a few subcontractors like Nokia, so they all are potential new clients. As you can see, I'm mostly confused. I see the Microsoft-deal to be primarily a good thing. I believe that in the short term it will stop the layoffs and at least ease the uncertainty a bit. A friend was able to put into words the feelings many of us have been going through today, and for the last few years: "Denial-Anger-Bargaining-Depression-Acceptance #Nokia"