Nokia’s high-profile move into the Internet services space appears not to be immune to the industry slowdown, with the Finnish vendor today announcing a revised strategy that will help it further cut its headcount. In a statement, Nokia said it will “focus investments on fewer initiatives and increase the use of common enablers across certain services.” It wants to work more closely with third party partners, mirroring Apple’s strategy for its hugely successful App Store. “The planned changes are aimed at improving and simplifying the user experience of Nokia services, increasing opportunities for third party developers and other partners to create compelling services, and accelerating the development of a common platform for Nokia’s different service offerings,” said Niklas Savander, executive VP for the Services division. In addition, all mobile games will now become available through the company’s Ovi Store, as well as through existing channels. The Ovi Store is due to launch next month.

Nokia said the above changes, combined with a separate downsizing of its internal IT and Compatibility & Industry Collaboration activities in the Corporate Development Office unit, will affect 450 employees globally. Reuters notes that Nokia has already cut 3,000 jobs across the organisation. Nokia’s move into the Internet services sector comes as the world’s largest handset vendor seeks ways of helping safeguard future revenues. In its first-quarter results announcement earlier this month it stated it expects the global mobile device market to shrink 10 percent this year.