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Technically they only bought Nokia's mobile division, but at any rate expect Microsoft to start selling Microsoft Mobile phones sometime next year with their ideal set of features, similar to how Google sells the Nexus, and Apple the iPhone.

Software can only go so far, but when you control the hardware you can provide a better experience.

Note that while MS could have simply started making a phone on its own, in addition to the jump start Nokia will provide, they need significant patent power and cross-licensing of patents to produce a modern phone with little compromise. Owning Nokia provides that.

Yeah, I'm thinking a lot of Nokia phones are going to die.

North_Ranger said:

FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU...,!!!!!!!

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Came here to see this post. Did not disappoint.

And there go the stock gains that Microsoft made by announcing that Ballmer was retiring...

This actually makes a ton of sense for them. The Nokia Lumia 920 and 520 (both Windows Phone 8 smartphones) have been selling quite well in Nokia's primary markets (Latin America, Europe, and parts of Asia that aren't China) as feature phone users who have yet to make the smartphone jump finally upgrade to smartphone devices.

Nokia was already basically all-in on this Microsoft partnership for smartphones, so Microsoft buying out the division will save Microsoft money in the long-run and give the rest of Nokia a large windfall in the short-term.

But it'll fuck over all Nokia-fans in, at least ,the short term.
Nokia has so much traction in Europe because they stuck to a well-designed, simple user interface. I can currently pick up any Nokia phone I want and use it right away. Not their smartphones, of course, which run on Windows, but all the normal ones. Guess those'll be going bye-bye. I wouldn't be at all surprised if this will severely weaken their market share in short order. If you have to pick up a smart phone, most people will want an easy and cheap one - even though the developers seem to have a boner for $600+ phones, most users don't. Bah bah bah.

Bubble181 said:

If you have to pick up a smart phone, most people will want an easy and cheap one - even though the developers seem to have a boner for $600+ phones, most users don't. Bah bah bah.

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That's apparently why the Lumia 520 is doing well in Latin America. It's a Nokia smartphone that goes for less than $100.

Not to mention, who wants a smart phone that has red-ring-of-death issues?

Gared said:

Not to mention, who wants a smart phone that has red-ring-of-death issues?

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Somebody please 'shop this.

--Patrick

PatrThom said:

Somebody please 'shop this.

--Patrick

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Quick and dirty obvious joke:

[Brazelton]...aaaaaand it's gone. [/Brazelton]
<NokiaRingtoneSadTromboneMashup.WAV>

--Patrick

That seems like an odd move to me. Nokia is a well-known name. That would be like acquiring Blackberry™ and ditching the name. Weird move. My first cell was a Nokia circa 2001. My dad has it in his collection, along with an older bag phone from the '90s.

RIP Nokia.

drawn_inward said:

That seems like an odd move to me. Nokia is a well-known name. That would be like acquiring Blackberry™ and ditching the name. Weird move. My first cell was a Nokia circa 2001. My dad has it in his collection, along with an older bag phone from the '90s.

RIP Nokia.

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Nokia is kind of a dead name though. Sure it was big at one time, but hasn't been much of a force since smart phones came along. Using the Microsoft name will probably get them a lot farther than Nokia.