Helsinki (AP)—Nokia said it has signed up for a $630 million loan from the European Investment Bank to help finance research and development projects.
The world's largest mobile phone maker said the five-year loan, to be used in 2009-2011, was aimed at making its Symbian-based smartphones more competitive.
"Nokia envisages that the research and development activities supported by this loan will also benefit the work of the Symbian Foundation and its development of open-source software for mobile devices," Nokia said.
Last week, Nokia announced that more than 75 leading technology companies had signed up to use Symbian OS, the operating system developed and licensed by Symbian.
More than 250 million Symbian OS-based units have been shipped to customers since the formation of Symbian 10 years ago, Symbian Software said.