Nokia Devices & Services to Become Part of Microsoft
posted Sunday Sep 8, 2013 by Scott Ertz
A few months back, it was revealed that Microsoft and Nokia had been in talks for a buyout, but that something had gone wrong and the talks had ended permanently. There was a lot of speculation over the reasons, from the market penetration of Windows Phone to pricing. No matter what was said at that point, it would appear that it was all a distraction from the fact that Microsoft and Nokia were actually finalizing details over the acquisition.
The final details, announced this week, has Microsoft writing a $7.2 billion check and receiving in return Nokia's devices an services business. This includes the smartphone, phablet and tablet business, as well as a license for Nokia's patents and mapping services.
Nokia will retain ownership of its corporate name, its mapping services as well as the underlying technology, NAVTEQ. Since the name isn't coming along with the purchase, that means that Microsoft will likely be branding future handsets from the ecosystem either Surface or just Microsoft, finally bring to reality the long rumored Surface-branded phones.
Another part of the acquisition is Nokia's now former CEO, Stephen Elop, who is becoming
Executive Vice President of Devices & Services. By taking that position, it means that he will be coming over to the executive team of Microsoft, a place where he is comfortable. Before becoming CEO of Nokia, Elop headed up the Office division of Microsoft.
This move is important because of Microsoft's announcement from 2 weeks ago, the search for a new CEO. Even before the announcement, when I knew that Ballmer wouldn't make it out of the Xbox ONE media disaster any better than Don Mattrick, especially after the way they bungled the Windows 8 launch, I believed that Stephen Elop was the next CEO of Microsoft. By purchasing Nokia, Microsoft has also purchased the contract for the man I think will lead the company into its One Microsoft philosophy, after uniting its closest hardware partner into the organization.
Obviously this is all speculation based on very little spoken from Microsoft, but there is enough out on the table to make an educated guess. It could take up to 12 months to know for sure, but my guess is that we will have our answer within the quarter.
