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Steve Ballmer email to Microsoft employees on Nokia acquisition
- ape4 13y ago"... and IP" -- I wonder if that's the main reason.
- tjmc 13y agoUgh... "Clearly, greater success with phones will strengthen the overall opportunity for us and our partners to deliver on our strategy to create a family of devices and services for individuals and businesses that empower people around the globe at home, at work and on the go, for the activities they value most." Corporate beige-speak at its worst. How can anybody be inspired by this?
- raverbashing 13y agoWell, it seems more human than anything Ray Ozzie could have every written, even this phrase
- InclinedPlane 13y agoThat doesn't help. This sort of bs is mind poison. It's like saying that MS wants to be a company that does stuff and sells things. It is literally that vague and useless.
- raverbashing 13y agoWell, I agree. Of course it is. There's also an aspect of being a "mandatory blurb" for "market analyst (drones)" because it hits the right keywords. It still feels they don't have the slightest idea of what they're doing
- InclinedPlane 13y agoBecause they don't. At a division level people know what they're doing and have more well defined goals at least, but that only helps so much.
- freehunter 13y agoBut that's literally what Microsoft does and wants to do. Be everything, everywhere, in everyone's home and office. It doesn't matter if it's Windows or Windows Phone, it doesn't matter if it's Windows Server or Azure, it doesn't matter if it's Xbox or Games for Windows. Basically what is being said is, our strategy is everything everywhere Microsoft, and buying Nokia will help us achieve that goal.
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- halviti 13y agoWorse it's a copy and paste from his "Transforming Our Company" memo from July. http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/news/Press/2013/Jul13/07-11memo.aspx http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/news/Press/2013/Jul13/07-11me... If you cut out all the nonsense and try and make sense of that sentence, it boils down to that they want to offer everything, to everyone, everywhere. A recipe for failure, if I have ever heard one.
- vijayr 13y agohaha, I had to read it 2-3 times before I understood, let alone get inspired by it. Sounds like it was written by a lawyer.
- csallen 13y ago"...our strategy to create a family of devices and services for individuals and businesses that empower people around the globe at home, at work and on the go, for the activities they value most." So Microsoft's "strategy" is to build everything for everyone, everywhere, all the time. Hilarious. This sounds less like a strategy, and more like a sentence concocted to justify an inability to focus.
- harrytuttle 13y agoI love the way people laugh at Microsofts services and devices proposition. It is pretty good; way better than Google and way more stable. Seriously. It also spans desktop, mobile, online services, private/public cloud and you can integrate anywhere. While people were slagging them off, they got their shit together. The strategy is simply: everything because they are big enough to do it.
- jamesaguilar 13y agoWait, their shit is together? I don't really think so. Their mobile situation is zombie-ish, they still haven't really done much on the web, and as far as I have heard nobody is using their cloud services. How is their shit together?
- harrytuttle 13y agoWhere did you get your crack pipe? Mobile situation is great. They are growing and now they have control over Nokia, they can do an Xbox i.e. make it succeed even if it's a loss leader for a bit. Not only that they still have piles of WinCE industrial devices going out of the door. Not done much on the web. Are you blind? Office 365, SharePoint, Azure, Skype, Bing (which isn't as shit as people like to say) at least 3 complete web stacks, the most complete API implementation across all products, devdiv. They do everything Google does already apart from social which they leave to Facebook as after all they threw some cash in that direction. Oh and they do all that on the desktop AS WELL. Nobody using their cloud - yeah right: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-04-29/microsoft-azure-sales-top-1-billion-challenging-amazon.html http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-04-29/microsoft-azure-sal... I think you are suffering from what I term as "the other reality distortion field" which is where people are blind to the actual facts on the table. There is a huge difference between the legendary portrayal of Microsoft by the tech media and the reality. Just watch the reality doesn't bite you on the arse one day.
- mmariani 13y agoSeems mostly everybody agrees that this is a great move for Microsoft, and it might really be. But, what I'm really interested is how this is going to play out for both companies in the long run. Specifically the integration of their managerial cultures. Now Microsoft being on top has an important decision to make. To force itself onto Nokia, or learn their ways. In other words, they can suffocate Nokia's engineering culture, or relearn it from them. The later would be the best option for everybody including us all. However, I don't have much faith in the managerial class to play this right.
- taproot 13y agoIn manager land its mostly jockeying for free and spending budgets anything threatening that in any slight is met with extreme prejudice as far as I've seen in the corporate world. So I have to agree I don't see Nokia staff in a great position regardless of how Steve spins it.
- soci 13y agoIntegrating the cultures of both companies will be the most difficult thing to do. I foresee more changes in Nokia than in Microsoft (being Microsoft the acquirer that shouldn't sound strange). But, is this the most desirable?
- aaronbrethorst 13y agoIn fact, Nokia Windows Phones are the fastest-growing phones in the smartphone market. It's easier to grow by 78% YoY when you started off as low as they did. They jumped from under 3mm devices in 3Q12 to just over 7mm in 2Q13 (slide 9). For comparison, in April 2013, Google was reporting 1.5 million Android devices activated every day. http://www.engadget.com/2013/04/16/eric-schmidt-google-now-at-1-5-million-android-activations-per/ http://www.engadget.com/2013/04/16/eric-schmidt-google-now-a...
- robryan 13y agoBetter comparison would be "Samsung Android Phones", is the figure you quoted for all Android devices? Granted they are a long way behind regardless.
- pan69 13y agoI stopped at this sentence when I read it, I'm sure he means; "Nokia" Windows Phones... As in, out of all the Windows phones available, Nokia is the fastest growing. Hmmm. How about patting yourself on the back...
- rhengles 13y agoThere's a xkcd for that! http://xkcd.com/1102/ http://xkcd.com/1102/
- kamaal 13y agoThis is classic Microsoft strategy. Note, as per a few people Microsoft trying to "build everything for everyone" might sound like "lack of focus" but this has worked for Microsoft and will work for them in the future. In countries like mine(India), the common guy on the street buys things that are cheap and durable. Which is why Nokia phones were such a huge hit for more than a decade, anything Nokia launched would sell like hot cakes. You cold buy a mobile for ~2000 rupees which wouldn't die for years. My dad used his mobile for a decade, and then we had to buy a new one for him after it got wet in the rain. He insisted we buy him Nokia and Nokia only. That's the brand power Nokia holds in India. You will see memes all over Facebook, depicting Nokia as Thor's hammer. That's what Nokia is known for- ruggedness, durability, quality and amazing value for money. And now if they can really come up with something similar for tablets and smart phone for the common market it will be a huge success. Apple makes very delicate phones, which are also very expensive for consumers in developing countries. And now with Steve Jobs gone, within a few years it will be price wars all over again. Though I appreciate what Apple has done on the usability end. I believe things like price, durability and ruggedness are a big part of good engineering. And this is where Nokia scores above Apple. With the Windows mobile OS, Nokia can great traction in markets like India. Especially if they can keep the price in check. I just hope Microsoft doesn't mess up with Nokia, the last thing I would hate to see is Nokia lose its hardware edge.
- mixmax 13y agoThe ruggedness part is very true, and I miss that. Some of my carpentr/fishermen/boatbuilder friends still use old Nokias they buy used because they can handle the rough conditions they work in. an Iphone wouldn't last a week. Back in the day I often used my Nokia 3210 to stir drinks and open bottles. It would take an incredible amount of beating and still just work.
- throwaway1979 13y agoThese rugged Nokias you speak of .. these weren't all-glass-front/touchscreen were they? I feel all the new smart phones out there are a bit weak on the ruggedness department. I recently lost a Nexus S (with a protective case!) to a drop of just a few feet. I was actually surprised that the phone wasn't able to take it. If a touchscreen-based smartphone was truly rugged yet consumer-grade, it would really have my attention.
- Tloewald 13y agoApple: * Fire Steve Jobs * Randomly follow pundit advice for twelve years * Jobs goes and builds second billion dollar business and fantastic technology no-one uses * Get Jobs and bis technology back at hour of need * Become incredibly successful Microsoft: * Elop leaves of his own accord * Microsoft continues to make money but fails to create any new markets * Elop runs Nokia into ground with Microsoft's conspicuous help * Get Elop and his now shattered company back at Microsoft's hour of need (?) * ???
- dodyg 13y agoElop worked for Microsoft just for two years before leaving for Nokia.
- hiccup 13y ago"Now is the time to build on this momentum and accelerate our share and profits in phones." Do they even have profits to accelerate on?
- nly 13y agoAt least they never got their paws on Qt.