You might be surprised to hear that Nokia is a company from Finland.

What no-one has probably heard is that there's another mobile phone company from Finland too: Benefon, from Salo.

So they're not gorilla-sized like the Big N. So they don't make a profit and never might. So they missed out on the GSM technology by some 3 years. So they still release new NMT phones.

So what?

They also make some of the coolest gizmatics around! Mobile handsets that combine GPS locations services and other neat wonders are the stock and trade for Benefon. If Nokia is fast-food, then Benefon's models like Esc!, Io, Twin, etc are à la carte. Of course, being small and exotic has its down-sides too. Benefon has had trouble staying afloat, getting new models to the markets in time and taking over the world. I wish them luck!

Update (01/2007):

Benefon is still around although incresingly in deep water due to its disasterous financial performances. After countless reorgs, finance rounds, ownership changes, etc, the company is currently positioning itself into location aware products. Its current range provides products combining GPS and GSM functionality for navigation, communication and security for both consumers and various industries.

The future looks uncertain for Benefon.