8 ms·
Great move by Microsoft. This is an acquisition that arguably puts Microsoft mobile capabilities above that of Google's, and closest to Apple's. They're gettin
by kyro 13y ago
Great move by Microsoft.
This is an acquisition that arguably puts Microsoft mobile capabilities above that of Google's, and closest to Apple's. They're getting industry veterans with great design talent. They're getting a Lumia product that has the best build quality of any non-Apple smart phone. They're acquiring proven channels to access global markets. Both Nokia and Microsoft have been floundering in the mobile space recently; neither have had any real explosive successes. Together they might make some really compelling offerings.
I'm not a fan of their mobile OS, but I am a huge fan of Nokia's latest smartphones, and if Nokia design's talent can figure out how to introduce a better UI, I'd seriously consider getting The Windows Phone as my next smartphone.
- Shamanmuni 13y agoBut they were together already. This past time Nokia only developed Windows phones and Microsoft paid for the marketing of the Lumia. Nokia had Stephen Elop as CEO, for crying out loud. We already knew Nokia was a part of Microsoft. This is not a move, just a formality; the low price gives you another hint. If the partnership Microsoft-Nokia could have changed their positions in the mobile sector, it would have happened years ago. Nothing will change as a result of this.
- kyro 13y agoIt's more than that. Microsoft is acquiring the Lumia brand. This gives them the ability to bundle both hardware and software to create one simple, cohesive experience. They will no longer be pushing the Nokia Lumia with Windows Phone 8, but The Microsoft Phone. And they can now brag about how they are the smartphone with the best camera. From a marketing perspective, this makes lots of sense. Lots of that is speculation on what I hope Microsoft does with this, namely adopting Apple's marketing simplicity and control of the user experience.
- count 13y agoI wonder if such bundling will be an issue with their existing anti-trust issues?
- dangrossman 13y agoMicrosoft hasn't had real anti-trust issues in a while. Windows 8 did lots of things they wouldn't have gotten away with 15 years ago; nobody's going after them because they don't really wield the monopoly power they once did.
- count 13y agoMy understanding is that Microsoft, like IBM and ATT before it, was permanently disallowed to do certain things? I understand that nobody is/has gone after them (yet?), but is that just prosecutorial oversight/prioritization issues, or is there actually nothing wrong?
- tanzam75 13y agoYes. For example, Microsoft is permanently enjoined from restricting OEM crapware preloads. OEMs are allowed to preload whatever they wish on top of Windows. However, it's perfectly fine for Microsoft to bundle an app store -- so long as an OEM is also allowed to load its own app store. (As Lenovo is doing.) As for Windows RT and Windows Phone, Microsoft can do anything it wants. When the news came out that Windows RT would only allow Internet Explorer and would only allow programs to be loaded through the app store, the EU competition commissioner said in an interview that he saw nothing wrong with it. That's because the antitrust case defined Microsoft's monopoly to be over x86 operating systems. Windows RT and Windows Phone run on ARM. What's more, Windows RT and Windows Phone do not have anywhere close to a monopoly of the tablet or smartphone markets. There may be some tying issues, but branding is not a form of tying.
- count 13y agoThanks for the explanation!
- jwr 13y agoExactly. My first reaction to this news was "wait, didn't this already happen?", before I realized that it didn't quite happen, but the speculation at the time Elop joined Nokia was precisely about an acquisition.
- berntb 13y ago>>Nothing will change as a result of this. A good guess is that the enthusiasm at e.g. Samsung for making Windows Phones have gone down quite a bit... Windows Phones seems to be an internal Microsoft thing now, Xbox style.
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- rbanffy 13y ago> the enthusiasm at e.g. Samsung for making Windows Phones have gone down quite a bit... It's probably part of their IP licensing deal about the secret patent list Android violates. They pay less per Android phone if and only if they build Windows Phone devices.
- gtirloni 13y agoHow would that make any sense? Microsoft would be essentially paying Samsung (by not collecting licensing fees) to just keep 1-2 phones that barely sell / are available in the WP8 ecosystem. For what? Just to say "the biggest smartphone vendor uses our software"? How does that help anything?
- anuragramdasan 13y agoActually I wouldn't totally agree to that. Some things will have to change. Now that Nokia is not a separate entity but a part of microsoft, it will have to fit within the microsoft way of doing things. This could probably mean more restrictions on whatever Nokia would have done as a separate entity.
- joe_the_user 13y agoThis is an acquisition that arguably puts Microsoft mobile capabilities above that of Google's, and closest to Apple's. To have this loltastic sentence at the top of hn makes me wonder if MS or some PR has a bunch of shill accounts they roll out for occasions like this. Seriously? As the other reply said, they were already together. And losing. Badly. And hated, broadly. And the reason the windows phone sucks so badly is that MS tied the PC and phone UIs together into a "push-me pull-you" (Windows 8 everywhere) that can't succeed at either task. And so to escape MS will have to back out of their deal entirely, go back to designing phones and PC OSes separately, and given MS' ingrown bureaucratic insanity there that seems less than likely. Grafting a few more limbs onto a failing Frankenstein will ... create a bigger failing Frankenstein.
- orf 13y agoI take it you have never used a Windows Phone. The Lumia's Nokia make are well designed and high quality, WP8 isn't that bad at all and will undoubtedly get better in the future. Everyone I've met with a WP device (Which is a lot, a fair percentage of my coursemates own one) is happy with it. And so to escape MS will have to back out of their deal entirely, go back to designing phones and PC OSes separately, and given MS' ingrown bureaucratic insanity there that seems less than likely. Why would they ever want to go back to designing them separately? How would that benefit anyone in any way? In case you hadn't noticed phones are computers now, integration is the future.
- camus 13y ago"not that bad" doesnt mean it's good when compared with the competition , "not that bad" is not enough today. A mobile OS must be excellent , not good , to compete. That's the problem of WP Os, it is just "not that bad"
- orf 13y agoI think WP8 is excellent, I meant that it is not as bad as he seems to think it is. Its also not all doom and gloom for WP, my employee (a large multinational company, thousands of employees) is switching all its employee phones from Blackberry to WP8. Even if its consumer market isn't that big you have to remember that a lot of the business world runs on Microsoft's software and it all ties together very nicely with Windows Phone.
- rbanffy 13y ago> This is an acquisition that arguably puts Microsoft mobile capabilities above that of Google's, and closest to Apple's. Man.. What have you been smoking? > They're getting industry veterans with great design talent Who consistently failed to exceed 3% of market share. > They're acquiring proven channels to access global markets. Very low-margin markets. > Both Nokia and Microsoft have been floundering in the mobile space recently; neither have had any real explosive successes. Together they might make some really compelling offerings. According to your logic, two bricks tied together float better than one.
- Jare 13y ago> According to your logic, two bricks tied together float better than one. A sail doesn't float and a hull doesn't move, but together they can make great boats