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Microsoft Sheds Rest of Nokia

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The Microsoft ownership of Nokia comes to an end-- according to The Verge an internal memo reveals Microsoft is writing off $950 million as part of the failed acquisition before slashing 1850 jobs.

Lumia phonesMost of the job cuts (specifically 1350) affect the Microsoft Mobile division in Finland, and the company hopes to finish the culling by end 2016. Microsoft will still keep a small number of ex-Nokia staff, some in R&D roles and others in a Finnish sales subsidiary. Either way, $200m of the $950m impairment charge covers severence payments.

The news comes little more than a week after Microsoft sold off the Nokia feature phone division to HMD and FiH, not to mention Nokia licensing its brand for new mobile phones and tablets. Interestingly, the feature phone business sale announcement included a curious statement claiming Microsoft is not giving up on Windows Mobile-powered smartphones, and will continue supporting such devices and OEM partners.

The internal memo further insists Microsoft is not giving up the smartphone dream-- it states the company is "scaling back" while still working on "great new devices." When will these devices hit the market? No one knows, but rumours suggest Microsoft will use the Lumia brand no more, instead using the Surface name. But with Windows Phone being more or less irrelevant in the grand scheme of smartphone things (the OS holds just 0.7% global Q1 2016 OS share according to Gartner) one wonders if such efforts will be too little, too late.

Go Microsoft Lays Off Hundreds as it Guts its Phone Business (The Verge)

Go Microsoft is Giving Up on Consumer Smartphones, Too (Recode)