“The fifth-consecutive month of sequential increases in semiconductor sales reflects improving demand in the consumer sector,” SIA President George Scalise said in a statement. “Sales of consumer products such as netbook PCs and cell phones are supporting the modest recovery in demand that is now under way. Purchases of Information Technology products by the enterprise sector continue to be tempered by caution and longer replacement cycles. There is also evidence of a return to seasonal industry patterns.”

Great news, coming as it does after the chip industry’s seemingly endless procession of bad. Certainly, it’s reassuring that the SIA sees “evidence” of a return to normal sales patterns, even if they are at a lower level. The semiconductor sector is typically among the first industries to recover ahead of a broader market turnaround. This latest report suggests we may be at the beginning of just that or at least at an inflection point where the uncertainty in consumer and enterprise technology markets that’s been such a drag on the industry begins to abate.

This morning the company said it will temporarily lay off the plant’s entire staff of 2,500 on a rotational basis, with between 20 percent and 30 percent of staff furloughed at a time. “With these plans, we aim to scale down Salo production to reflect reduced market demand, while operations in the factory continue uninterrupted,” Juha Putkiranta, Nokia’s SVP of demand supply network management, said in a statement. “This is one of the measures we are taking to adjust our global demand supply network to the current situation.”

Another such measure: the shuttering of Nokia’s research and development site in Jyväskylä, Finland, which will be phased out by the end of the year.

A grim, but expected announcement. Nokia shipped 113 million handsets world-wide in the fourth quarter of 2008, down 15 percent annually. And in January, the company warned that world-wide sales in ’09 are likely to fall 10 percent year-to-year. As CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo put it at the time, “the macro environment is challenging and, we believe, will remain so in 2009.”

Truer words, apparently. And a somber warning for Motorola (MOT) and Samsung. With 40 percent of the market, Nokia is a bellwether for the industry. If it’s closing R&D facilities and dialing back production for 2009, one can only imagine what sort of ugliness the year has in store for the likes of Motorola.

• The noncompete clause that prevents Ron Garriques, the former Motorola (MOT) executive heading up Dell’s consumer-products efforts, from working on mobile phones expires next month.
• If Dell does debut a phone or two, the introductions won’t take place at next month’s Mobile World Congress show; the company has announced that it’s not attending the show, much less introducing new phones there.
• Other reports name the alleged device as the (wince) “MePhone,” which is about the worst name I can think of, though it’s entirely appropriate for Dell.
• The Journal report comes on the heels of Kaufman Brothers analyst Shaw Wu’s claims that Dell has been making preparations for a cellphone for some time now. “From our supply chain checks, Dell has been studying the cellphone market and talking with component suppliers and manufacturers for nearly two years now,” Wu wrote earlier this month. “The exact timing of Dell’s launch is not clear but our sources indicate it is closer to reality than before. We believe it is likely inevitable that Dell enter the cellphone space given the cannibalization of PCs by smartphones and highly functional mobile devices.”
• If Dell does enter the smartphone space, it will likely be with far less elegance and grace than it would have if the company had bought Palm (PALM) when it had the chance. From RealMoney.com contributor Bob Faulkner’s open letter to Michael Dell:

  With the advent of the Apple iPhone in 2007 and its subsequent imitators, it has become apparent that we’re seeing “computing” evolve once again. Phones are no longer just something you speak into. They have transformed into a portal for taking the Internet wherever you go.

  I realize that you have been busy the last couple of years trying to right the good ship Dell, but your lack of participation in this market segment will hurt the company going forward. There is another rumor making the rounds that you’ve been feeling out suppliers in an attempt to enter the market at some point. While, if this is true, I’m glad to see some movement on this front, I fear that this approach is doomed to fail.

  Let me be so bold as to suggest that there is a ready-made solution for you that I recommended nearly two years ago: Dell should buy Palm. Think about it, Michael–it’s a match made in heaven. You get a solution, and they get the stability, influence and purchasing power of Dell.

The handset maker this morning said it will cut compensation and benefits packages for its employees in order to “better align with industry norms”–industry norms in Motorola’s case being the ongoing collapse of its post-Razr phone business. To that end, the company will permanently freeze its U.S. pension plans and temporarily suspend all matching contributions to 401(k) plans. It won’t be offering salary increases this year, either. And, in a sympathetic nod to Motorola’s (MOT) long-suffering employees, co-CEOs Greg Brown and Sanjay Jha will take 25 percent salary reductions. Brown will forego any 2008 cash bonus. Jha will forfeit a portion of his guaranteed 2008 bonus equivalent to that and take the remainder in restricted stock.

“The sustained downturn in the global economy requires that we take these difficult but necessary steps,” said Brown and Jha. “While serving our customers remains a top priority, we are equally focused on our cost structure, and we will continue to implement appropriate measures to conserve cash and reduce expenses.”

Happy holidays, Schaumberg.

Hell of an understatement, given the news. Hope they serve alcohol at that Capital Markets Day event….

Point taken. Certainly, we’re not going to see the recession inspiring companies to suddenly shutdown their e-commerce operations or disable Salesforce in aid of their longevity. But that doesn’t mean the Grim Reaper of the “Next Economy” isn’t going to sweep this latest crop of Webvans and Scients off into the abyss, and from there into the pages of a 2013 Fast Company article.

That said, take it from Colony: Don’t worry, be happy.

[Image Credit: Sequoia Capital via VentureBeat]