Microsoft Buys Nokia

[A'tuin]

There's pretty serious debate about Stephen Elop being a "trojan horse" whose mission was to crash the market value of Nokia and sell it cheaply to Microsoft. Let's look at the evidence:

-Mr. Elop is literally considered "the worst CEO ever", based on the value of company's stock during his leadership
-In 2010 (the year Elop became the head of Nokia), Nokia had 34% share of all smartphones. Now it's 3,1%
-Elop never sold his Redmond house and his family never moved from there when he joined Nokia
-At first Elop didn't sell his MS stock and he was really reluctant about buying Nokia stock
-They sold Nokia quite conveniently just as Ballmer is leaving the head of MS.

I know this might sound a bit of a conspiracy theory, but even the major, respectable news channels in Finland are hinting at this without saying it out loud.

 

[PoolCleaningRobot]

I honestly thought Microsoft already owned Nokia. Since Nokia only made Windows Phones this doesn't really change anything from a consumer standpoint but it is kind of depressing. Nokia made great cell phones and I would have liked to see them make Android devices which I prefer by virtue of being opensource and having a huge amount of app support.

If anything, I'd think this would help competition, as the measly 2.5% market share Windows Phone has is dwarfed by Apple and Google's offerings, and they could use a competitive nudge - maybe Google would stop doing such silly things as not offering SD slots on their own devices if they had some serious competition that didn't cost $600.

Still, I'm not a fan of what Microsoft has done lately, so they'd have to step things up if they really want to get in on the phone and tablet market. That's just my opinion though.

Google doesn't actually make all Android devices. Its the hardware manufacturers like HTC, Samsung, LG, etc that decide what goes into the handsets which is awesome cause it leads to competition and variety with Android devices. Google only designs the Nexus line (which admittedly never have SD card slots). Personally, as long as they at least offer a 32 and a 64 gig model then its fine with me.

But I agree, Microsoft should to do more to be more competitive with iOS and Android. Windows Phone aren't bad but Android and iOS have way better app support and better variety. All Microsoft seems to be doing is its usual strong arm tactics to get people onto Windows. For example, Office 365 is free on Windows phones but it requires a subscription on Android and iOS which is pointless considering there are plenty of document apps available for free. They made the right move with Lumia 40 mega pixel camera phones to lure in customers but they need more on the software front

 

[nuttshell]

New headline next week:

Nokia lays off 70% of it's workforce due to locust tactics restructuring and improving of infrastructure. "We will miss those guys but if we want to stay alivecompetitive, we need to rethink our retirement plans architectural premises of company philosophy. We are very afraid looking very positively to the future."

 

[cookyy2k]

There's pretty serious debate about Stephen Elop being a "trojan horse" whose mission was to crash the market value of Nokia and sell it cheaply to Microsoft. Let's look at the evidence:

-Mr. Elop is literally considered "the worst CEO ever", based on the value of company's stock during his leadership
-In 2010 (the year Elop became the head of Nokia), Nokia had 34% share of all smartphones. Now it's 3,1%
-Elop never sold his Redmond house and his family never moved from there when he joined Nokia
-At first Elop didn't sell his MS stock and he was really reluctant about buying Nokia stock
-They sold Nokia quite conveniently just as Ballmer is leaving the head of MS.

I know this might sound a bit of a conspiracy theory, but even the major, respectable news channels in Finland are hinting at this without saying it out loud.

I instantly thought these things when I heard the news too.

 

[Tastum]

Google doesn't actually make all Android devices. Its the hardware manufacturers like HTC, Samsung, LG, etc that decide what goes into the handsets which is awesome cause it leads to competition and variety with Android devices. Google only designs the Nexus line (which admittedly never have SD card slots). Personally, as long as they at least offer a 32 and a 64 gig model then its fine with me.

But I agree, Microsoft should to do more to be more competitive with iOS and Android. Windows Phone aren't bad but Android and iOS have way better app support and better variety. All Microsoft seems to be doing is its usual strong arm tactics to get people onto Windows. For example, Office 365 is free on Windows phones but it requires a subscription on Android and iOS which is pointless considering there are plenty of document apps available for free. They made the right move with Lumia 40 mega pixel camera phones to lure in customers but they need more on the software front

Yes, I'm aware (and I own 3 non-Google android devices). Looking at my post, I can see that wasn't clear. Sorry for the confusion.

I was referring to the Nexus line. Google prices their products very aggressively for off-contract phones, making them very attractive. In addition to that they're also likely to be kept up to date for a very long time. But a lack of an SD slot turns it into a no sell for me - or at least it did until they came out with a 64gb version, which happened too late for me. That's enough storage for a phone, but not for a tablet. Sometimes people take vacations in places where wifi is unavailable or inconvenient, and if I can't store more than a few hours' worth of video on my tablet, I'm not buying that tablet. It's just a personal pet peeve, and from what I've been reading on sites like xda-developers, I'm not anywhere close to alone.

I definitely agree that the Lumia's focus on a quality camera was both innovative marketing and a very good idea in general. People are starting to not really have cameras besides their phones anymore, so there is bound to be a market for a high quality camera phone. If they do a good job building apps into the phone that allow quality on-the-fly photo editing as well, they might just carve out a niche. Buying Nokia outright will help them achieve that plan.

 

[Somebloke]

I honestly thought Microsoft already owned Nokia. Since Nokia only made Windows Phones this doesn't really change anything from a consumer standpoint but it is kind of depressing. Nokia made great cell phones and I would have liked to see them make Android devices which I prefer by virtue of being opensource and having a huge amount of app support.
...

Well, one of the rumors in circulation, is that forces within Nokia, who have long been losing patience with Windows Phone and Microsoft, were pushing for a shift towards Android and that this buyout was in part a move to prevent the bottom from falling right out of the WP market.

 

[PoolCleaningRobot]

Yes, I'm aware (and I own 3 non-Google android devices). Looking at my post, I can see that wasn't clear. Sorry for the confusion.

I was referring to the Nexus line. Google prices their products very aggressively for off-contract phones, making them very attractive. In addition to that they're also likely to be kept up to date for a very long time. But a lack of an SD slot turns it into a no sell for me - or at least it did until they came out with a 64gb version, which happened too late for me. That's enough storage for a phone, but not for a tablet. Sometimes people take vacations in places where wifi is unavailable or inconvenient, and if I can't store more than a few hours' worth of video on my tablet, I'm not buying that tablet. It's just a personal pet peeve, and from what I've been reading on sites like xda-developers, I'm not anywhere close to alone.

Definitely. One of my co-workers loved his Nexus 4 cause of the updates but the thing only comes in a 8 and 16 gig version with no SD card slot which is a joke to me. I've been overcoming the lack of storage on my cheap tablet using usb otg to connect a decent size flash drive and view content straight off it. Once I buy a 128 gig flash drive I should be good on space for all my devices but it doesn't beat the convenience of on-board storage. If I was faced with 2 identical products and one had an SD card slot, I'd pick the SD.

I definitely agree that the Lumia's focus on a quality camera was both innovative marketing and a very good idea in general. People are starting to not really have cameras besides their phones anymore, so there is bound to be a market for a high quality camera phone. If they do a good job building apps into the phone that allow quality on-the-fly photo editing as well, they might just carve out a niche. Buying Nokia outright will help them achieve that plan.

Well, one of the rumors in circulation, is that forces within Nokia, who have long been losing patience with Windows Phone and Microsoft, were pushing for a shift towards Android and that this buyout was in part a move to prevent the bottom from falling right out of the WP market.

Kind of a shame they didn't switch to Android. Those Lumia's are pretty nice. Until/Unless Microsoft is able to put the same OS on tablets, phones, and desktops and provide decent incentive for using it, it looks like Nokia will just fade into obscurity

 

[Shamanic Rhythm]

There's pretty serious debate about Stephen Elop being a "trojan horse" whose mission was to crash the market value of Nokia and sell it cheaply to Microsoft. Let's look at the evidence:

-Mr. Elop is literally considered "the worst CEO ever", based on the value of company's stock during his leadership
-In 2010 (the year Elop became the head of Nokia), Nokia had 34% share of all smartphones. Now it's 3,1%
-Elop never sold his Redmond house and his family never moved from there when he joined Nokia
-At first Elop didn't sell his MS stock and he was really reluctant about buying Nokia stock
-They sold Nokia quite conveniently just as Ballmer is leaving the head of MS.

I know this might sound a bit of a conspiracy theory, but even the major, respectable news channels in Finland are hinting at this without saying it out loud.

What's more, he's apparently now a serious candidate to replace Steve Ballmer. Why they would consider anyone who has completely trashed a major company? Unless he was doing so with their backing...

 

[Sol_HSA]

Don't worry, we still have saunas. And the drinking. And the high depression and suicide rates.

Sorry to burst your bubble, but Finns no longer have the highest suicide rates - most likely due to the Internet. But we still drink a lot of coffee..

 

[Sol_HSA]

At some point, will there be only like one or two multinationals left that own everything?

Looks like it's headed that way, yes - http://nodemy.jit.su/post/VerticalStack

 

[Kyber]

Don't worry, we still have saunas. And the drinking. And the high depression and suicide rates.

Sorry to burst your bubble, but Finns no longer have the highest suicide rates - most likely due to the Internet. But we still drink a lot of coffee..

Our culture is being destroyed one living person at a time...

 

[Gottesstrafe]

This is clearly just Microsoft's opening move in an effort to acquire the rights to the N-Gage so that it may finally compete with Sony and Nintendo in the handheld market. Here's to the unveiling of the N-Gage One!

 

[Strazdas]

Bill gates asked Steve Ballmer for a new phone. he bought him Nokia.

Now considering that microsoft has started creating shit os and attemted to invade phone amrket, and since Nokia has been making shit phones for god knows how long, i see this union as "you both deserve eachother" deal.