MS to aquire Nokia divices division

[lothar]

Deliberately running Nokia down so that Microsoft could buy them cheaper would have been illegal wouldn't it?

It depends...

Only if you told the regulators that's what you did, or that there's a paper/email trail proving you did so would make it illegal.
Basically, if you covered your tracks properly and didn't open your mouth too much, then there's nothing the regulators can prove.

In other words, it's only illegal if you're caught doing so by the regulators.

 

[beginner99]

So Elop leaves Microsoft, becomes CEO of Nokia, Pushes Windows Phones for several years making them the go to Windows Phone brand, and gets the hardware division sold off to Microsoft and rewarded at least a major division position if not CEO.

Is this legal?

It does look suspicious...but I doubt managers types liek that are clever enough to come up with ideas like these.

What I noticed was this (w.r.t mobile devices) ->
1. Motorola, the company that literally invented the Mobile Phone was taken over by Google.
2. Ericsson, once a major name in Mobile devices is now just a shadow. Sony has got all it's mobile portfolio now.
3. Nokia, which even 2 years ago was the largest mobile phone business, is now taken over by Microsoft.

I forsee and era of IT and appliances companies building our world... :-/

Marx was right. In the end we will be ruled by a few huge corporations. About success, well I'm doubtful. The nokia phones are all "huge" compared to competitor devices. the lumina 920 is like a phone form the 90ties. You can kill someone with it by hitting him over the head.

The Motorola purchase by Google continues to confuse me.
...
The only interesting thing Moto has offered in the last few years is the MAXX line and that's just a phone with a big ass battery hooked to it. They've got decent build quality but other than that their cameras suck, their marketing is to 15-20 something males and they just don't have a whole lot else going on.

I have a RAZR I (identical on the outside like RAZR M) and I like the design. It's it overly large like these 5" phones but still has a large enough screen. rather light and small for it's screen size. Phone cameras suck anyways. Yeah some are worse but it's like saying the speakers suck.

 

[WelshBloke]

It depends...

Only if you told the regulators that's what you did, or that there's a paper/email trail proving you did so would make it illegal.
Basically, if you covered your tracks properly and didn't open your mouth too much, then there's nothing the regulators can prove.

In other words, it's only illegal if you're caught doing so by the regulators.

Or until some Nokia shareholders get pissed and sue?

And I think your mixing up "legal" and "getting away with it" there.

 

[MichaelBarg]

I really wonder how this will shake out. Microsoft is an enterprise company through and through, which is why they've missed the boat so many times on consumer technology products. Nokia though has always had a very solid consumer focus. If they manage to retain that part of Nokia's culture, which of course is always pretty hard in a buyout, this may be a major turning point in Microsoft's consumer offerings.

 

[Mopetar]

I recall many people say the same thing about the BlackBerry executives. BB10 is a good OS...Only it arrived several years too late, or it should have arrived around the time when BlackBerry revealed the "PlayBook", etc...

The blame for that WP taking so long rests on Ballmer. He was scoffing at the iPhone while Google was busy scraping what they had because the future was what Apple was releasing. If Ballmer were smart he would have had something in development before Apple announced, but he was even so stupid as to dismiss it for several years instead of immediately starting development on something new.

I think I highly prefer Kevin Turner over Terry Myerson. I know very well who Kevin Turner is and I've been a shareholder of Wal-Mart for many years.
At this point, almost anyone would be better than Ballmer. Even Elop.

I'd prefer Turner as well since Microsoft is going to need a strong business leader now that they're moving even farther into the hardware game.

 

[lothar]

The blame for that WP taking so long rests on Ballmer. He was scoffing at the iPhone while Google was busy scraping what they had because the future was what Apple was releasing. If Ballmer were smart he would have had something in development before Apple announced, but he was even so stupid as to dismiss it for several years instead of immediately starting development on something new.

On iPhone:
“There’s no chance that the iPhone is going to get any significant market share. No chance. It’s a $500 subsidized item.” (April 2007)

“$500, fully subsidized, with a plan! That is the most expensive phone in the world and it doesn’t appeal to business customers, because it doesn’t have a keyboard, which makes it not a very good email machine.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eywi0h_Y5_U

On Android and Google's hiring spree:
"I don't really understand their strategy. Maybe somebody else does. If I went to my shareholder meeting, my analyst meeting, and said: 'Hey, we've just launched a new product that has no revenue model!'… I'm not sure that my investors would take that very well. But that's kind of what Google's telling their investors about Android." (November 2008)

“You don’t need to be a computer scientist to use a Windows Phone. I think you do to use an Android phone…It is hard for me to be excited about the Android phones.”

"They're going to double in a year. That's insane, in my opinion...I don't really know that anybody's proven that a random collection of people doing their own thing actually creates value."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VLRtUGviSc8

On iPod:
“No, I do not [have an iPod]. Nor do my children. My children — in many dimensions they’re as poorly behaved as many other children, but at least on this dimension I’ve got my kids brainwashed — you don’t use Google and you don’t use an iPod.”

“The most common format of music on an iPod is ‘stolen.’”

 

[Imaginer]

That's a shame regarding HTC, some of their best devices were WP7/8, especially the 8X.

I like the build of the 8X. And I like Windows Phone 8 for the most part. Out of the box, everything set up fine within several minutes, no more than 20. Base and workable functionality was good to go.

And it is nice to hold. Camera was good.

My only complaint now is that Remote Desktop apps transfer files to a separate phone data storage space compared to the default phone user access storage space. All a more excuse to spend another $20 a month for phone tethering. When all I need at times is to retrieve a file I might have forgotten back home and do not have WiFi access on my laptop.

And of course, direct downloading to the phone's local storage space of any file from Skydrive. Both are more a Windows Phone problem. (hence my "most part" comment)

 

[RandomFool]

I think Elop's done a pretty good job at Nokia. Anyone could see they needed some sort of change to stay relevant. Which basically came down to become yet another Android phone maker OR become THE Windows Phone company. I think they would have put out some fine Android phones but have ended up similar to HTC struggling against Samsung. Microsoft had the money and was willing to work with Nokia on the design of WP8.

As for him becoming CEO, I'm all for it. Nokia has supported WP8 better than MS and if he can bring some of that to MS in general I'd be happy.

 

[pantsaregood]

This acquisition could be great for both parties, but there's a branding nightmare waiting to happen. Microsoft has stated that their future smartphones will not carry "Nokia" branding. This may not slow growth in America, but it could be damaging elsewhere. The Microsoft name has some stigma attached to it - even if the products continue to be of excellent quality, that stigma could hurt sales.

 

[vi edit]

This acquisition could be great for both parties, but there's a branding nightmare waiting to happen. Microsoft has stated that their future smartphones will not carry "Nokia" branding. This may not slow growth in America, but it could be damaging elsewhere. The Microsoft name has some stigma attached to it - even if the products continue to be of excellent quality, that stigma could hurt sales.

Maybe they'll split the difference and just call their devices "Lumia" which is a known entity and not even split the difference on who actually built the thing. Sort of like the Nexus branding that Google does.

 

[pantsaregood]

Microsoft did acquire the rights to the "Lumia" name, and they intend to use the "Nokia Asha" name on dumbphones. I believe I read something about bringing SkyDrive and Xbox Music to Asha devices, as well.

All of that said, these statements seem to imply that this acquisition will bear little to no resemblance to the Google/Motorola. It honestly looks like Microsoft's devices division is essentially going to BE Nokia.

 

[BladeVenom]

..but there's a branding nightmare waiting to happen. Microsoft has stated that their future smartphones will not carry "Nokia" branding. This may not slow growth in America, but it could be damaging elsewhere. The Microsoft name has some stigma attached to it - even if the products continue to be of excellent quality, that stigma could hurt sales.

I agree. Nokia was the number #1 cellphone for 14 years, and their brand used to be in the top 10 ten most valuable brand names. Taking the name Nokia off those phones is going to hurt.

 

[Deeko]

On iPhone:
“There’s no chance that the iPhone is going to get any significant market share. No chance. It’s a $500 subsidized item.” (April 2007)

“$500, fully subsidized, with a plan! That is the most expensive phone in the world and it doesn’t appeal to business customers, because it doesn’t have a keyboard, which makes it not a very good email machine.”

He was dead on, I don't know why people love to reference these quotes so much. If Apple hadn't dropped the price while adding all the features the original iPhone lacked, it would NOT be in the position it is today. At $500 on subsidy, the iPhone would have been relegated to overpriced niche market, much like Macs.

Besides, what do you expect him to say? What would an acceptable response be? "Hey, our product sucks in comparison, and I think that they're going to crush us"? Of course he isn't going to say that. He mocked the price, which WAS laughable.

On iPod:
“No, I do not [have an iPod]. Nor do my children. My children — in many dimensions they’re as poorly behaved as many other children, but at least on this dimension I’ve got my kids brainwashed — you don’t use Google and you don’t use an iPod.”

I don't get why people get all whiny that Ballmer and Gates' kids don't have iPods, either. They're the CEO of Microsoft! Do you think the Ford kids cruise around in Escalades? Did Wendy Thomas spend her lunch hour at McDonald's? Of course not.

 

[vi edit]

I think for MS to "right the ship" they need to take some of the better strategy's from Samsung and Apple.

1) Narrow down the hardware choices and begin building a brand. I think for them to really get this right they'll need to kill other OEM offerings and be the only hardware company for Windows Phone. Choices should be a value offering, midrange and then a flagship device. Keep it simple while still offering choices.

2) Offer the same thing across all major carriers. No one-off special models for every carrier. Give it the same treatment that Apple does and Samsung does with the Galaxy S lineup.

3) And from a platform in general, they just need to get their shit together and get stuff done faster. App development, OS updates, ect. Can't sit and wait for apps to trickle in. Get out there, open the wallet and pay to get stuff published quicker. Do more than one update a year. WP8 has a polished UI, but it's just really lacking in any depth of function compared to the other two players.

I think the simple publicity and hype of this deal gives MS a bit of a push and extra attention. It's not quite a full redo on the WP8 release, but it's a almost a mulligan for them to put out the phone and system they really wanted.

 

[pantsaregood]

1) Narrow down the hardware choices and begin building a brand. I think for them to really get this right they'll need to kill other OEM offerings and be the only hardware company for Windows Phone. Choices should be a value offering, midrange and then a flagship device. Keep it simple while still offering choices.

Samsung definitely doesn't follow this strategy. Nokia has a pretty nice portfolio with the 520/620/720/820/920/1020. The 720 could've used a 1.2 GHz CPU and 768 MB RAM to give it a proper place, but the rest all have a clear target.

Offer the same thing across all major carriers. No one-off special models for every carrier. Give it the same treatment that Apple does and Samsung does with the Galaxy S lineup.

This would be great, but isn't particularly easy. Microsoft needs carrier support, and carriers want "exclusive" devices to give that support. Until relatively recently, this was an issue with Android. Remember how many carrier variants of the SGS2 existed?

Microsoft can't be pushy with carriers until the carriers have no choice but to support Microsoft.

 

[Crono]

It wouldn't surprise me if Microsoft once again leveraged it's Xbox name - which it is unlikely to get sued over, unlike some of its other names - for phones and started putting green X's on its phones instead of the Nokia branding, and put tighter/greater Xbox gaming integration into the new phones. They already changed Zune into Xbox Music, they just need to Xbox-ify the look and feel of everything else.

Windows Phones really aren't bad for gaming, even with less titles, as the Xbox Live ones are pretty decent and the achievement system has been ahead of Android for a long time. Halo: Spartan Assault is pretty good, if Microsoft poured more money into making their platform the mobile gaming phone OS, they could steal some Android and iOS users for sure. Windows Phone is already winning some converts with lower-end phones like the Lumia 520/521, and some who are really into cameras with the 1020. Microsoft needs to take every niche it can get, since they are still clawing their way up after being late to the party.

I'm surprised they haven't gone harder after the Blackberry enterprise users. Windows Phone should be the natural home for them if Microsoft developed their mobile-side apps and services more (they've got the cloud covered), but they are rapidly losing that opportunity to Apple as IT managers get accustomed to embracing iOS.

 

[bearxor]

This would be great, but isn't particularly easy. Microsoft needs carrier support, and carriers want "exclusive" devices to give that support. Until relatively recently, this was an issue with Android. Remember how many carrier variants of the SGS2 existed?

Heck, even in late 2013 Samsung can't deliver one model of their flagship device for one reason or another.

 

[lothar]

This just keeps getting better and better...
http://www.forbes.com/sites/terokui...leading-information-about-elops-compensation/

More evidence that this Trojan Horse was planned from the start?