Nokia's decision to close that factory in Bochum, Germany and move its operations to a cheaper site in Romania might lower costs in the long run, but for now things seem decidedly in red: Nokia and the German unions who represented the 2,000 laid-off workers at the plant have agreed to a €200M ($314M) settlement, which will probably end the demonstrations and calls for boycotts that have been going on. Of course, that's on top of the $92M (plus another $6.2M) the German government wants back in grants and tax breaks for subsidizing the plant, but what's another hundred mil between friends?

[Via Textually.org; image courtesy of Reuters]

As if being on the hook for $92 million wasn't enough, Nokia is now being chased down for what looks to be another €4 million or so, which comes out to just over $6.2 million. This time, the German government is "demanding" that Nokia repay said amount in research subsidies now that it is closing its factory in Bochum. Reportedly, the German Research Ministry gifted the cellphone maker with €4 million in order to "fund four separate research projects dealing primarily with new antennae and wireless transmission technology," and now it's asking Nokia to "explain by early April which patent filings resulted from the projects and which German production or research sites benefited from the results of the projects." So much for basking in the glory of Q4, eh?

[Via IntoMobile, image courtesy of Reuters]

Looks as if Nokia's going to be using a portion of that gigantic profit it raked in during Q4 to appease NRW.Bank -- unless a meeting it hopes to establish within the next few days changes matters, that is. Apparently, a German state has "asked" the handset maker to hand back government-issued subsidies (with interest, no less) that it received to build a cellphone factory in Bochum which it now plans to close. In sum, Nokia's looking at a tab of $92 million, as the folks in the industrial Ruhr region are none too pleased about what will likely result in the loss of some 2,300 jobs. Purportedly, the cash is due by March 31st, and if Nokia refuses to comply, the bank has stated that it will "take legal action to secure payment." Them's fightin' words there.

It's not as crisis-inducing as the Starbucks outage earlier this week may have been for some of us, but there's another store closing happening today that we need to be monitoring pretty closely: we've heard that Sprint will be closing every last one of its locations -- even licensed dealers -- from 9AM to 11AM PST for some sort of webcast. Rumor has it Sprint's baristas will be given a refresher course on how to pull the perfect shot of espresso, but if it turns out to be something else, we'll let you know.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Anyone who was sent into a panicked tizzy over Palm's decision to close its retail locations just won a small consolation prize: those precious airport locations are here to stay. Turns out they're not owned by Palm, but rather licensed by vendor Airport Wireless; they might be rebranded, but their line and bold mission statement should both remain unchanged. So the next time you happen to be passing through from LGA to LAX, rest easy knowing that the opportunity to buy overpriced electronic merchandise from a variety of vendors will still be alive and well.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Oh Palm, things just seem to be going from bad to worse. After your recent (and repeated) Palm OS II delays and employee layoffs, you really should be due for some good news -- but that's not the case today. According to a member of the TreoCentral forums who cites "sources," Palm will be folding all but its airport-based retail locations by the end of January. Apparently, other forum members have checked in with their local stores and gotten word from reps there that the doors are indeed shutting, so it seems like this is a go. Palm, we're not going to say you're in your darkest hour just yet, but we're pretty sure you can see it from where you're standing. C'mon guys -- get it together!

[Thanks, Anonymous]

So apparently, that whole "plan to shut down a Bochum Nokia plant" didn't exactly sail over everyone's heads, particularly not in Germany. Reports are now flowing out that unions in the nation are taking it upon themselves to urge consumers not to purchase wares from the firm, with Dietmar Muscheid, regional head of the Confederation of German Unions (DGB), being one of the most vocal. Muscheid went on to state that "whoever buys a cellphone today should think about the choice they are making and what catastrophic consequences the company's actions in Bochum will have for thousands of workers." 'Course, the EU has already proclaimed that Nokia won't be getting a dime in relocation (to Romania, supposedly) aid, but unspecified government officials are reportedly lined up to speak with suits from the handset maker later this week to "discuss the plant's future." Whether or not all this commotion will actually change any minds, however, remains to be seen.

Another day, another company slamming the doors shut, and another governmental group prying them back open to sniff things out. Shortly after BenQ pulled the plug on its German mobile division (and somehow got its P51 to China), chief senior public prosecutor Christian Schmidt-Sommerfeld has initiated an investigation to find out just what went down behind the scenes of the now-closed company. It's possible that "a number of bankruptcy-related offenses were committed," such as delaying their filing for bankruptcy and overstating how many units were sold in the most recent quarter by a couple million. Rumors had already surfaced regarding management's knowledge of the cashflow quandaries and their adamant indifference towards finding a solution, eliciting statements of "being lied to" to mar the already unfortunate closing. Nevertheless, we're sure someone will get to the bottom of all this, but unfortunately there's nothing they can do to bring all those unreleased (and sexy) mobiles to market.

[Via The Register]