While Nokia may remind most of us of only mobile phones, the company in fact started out as a paper mill, which was established in 1865 by engineer Fredrik Idestam. The newly formed company developed things like toilet paper, bicycle and car tires, rubber footwear, TVs, communication cables and robotics. In 1963, Nokia's electronics division began making radio phones for the military and emergency services. Because of good operating profits prom selling mobile phones, in the 1990s Nokia sold off its rubber and paper divisions and focused exclusively on cell phones operating on the newly minted digital GSM network.
