There's no shortage of explanations as to the cause of the recent global recession as many economies have struggled in recent years. Finnish Prime Minister Alexander Stubb has taken a different approach, however, as he has accused Apple of single-handedly ruining two of the country's largest exports.
During a recent interview with CNBC, Stubb blamed the iPhone for killing Nokia and the iPad for the decline of the Finnish paper industry. It's not the first time that Stubb has called out Apple for eliminating jobs in his country and depending on your view, his comments aren't entirely off-base.
Nokia was a household name in the late '90s and early 2000s as it was responsible for about a third of all mobile phones at one point. Seemingly content to rest on their laurels, the Finnish handset maker failed to keep pace with the rapidly-advancing wireless industry and ultimately ceded virtually their entire market share to Apple and Samsung.
While smartphones were responsible for adding more functionality on top of an already existing cell phone market, Apple's iPad created an entirely new industry at the expense of established markets and largely shifted reading to tablets. As the LA Times points out, Finland's production of paper for printing and writing has been on the decline since the arrival of Apple's slate.
Stubb wasn't all doom and gloom, however, as he promised his country would make a comeback as dire times lead to innovation.