The lay-offs are according to Nokia part of a "renewal and chang process" it's undergoing right now.
According to Nokia the lay-offs are part of a process that began in the beginning of 2008. Besides lay-offs the plan is also to combine some Finnish locations. A while ago Nokia did already close a factory in Germany that resulted in quite some commotion.
The reason for the saving of money is to meet with the declining market demand and to focus on the less but more important research areas. There will be 130 lay-offs on Nokias Research department, of which 100 Finnish employees. We don't know yet what this will mean for the future product portfolio.
600 lay-offs
Most of the lay-offs will be at the sales department: 450 emloyees will have to find a new employer in 2009. Nokia will probably fire over 600 employees. It is unclear whether these lay-offs are by means of forced resignation or not.
Source: Reuters