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Microsoft is cutting 1,000 jobs in Finland as it stops phone production

uk.businessinsider.com

81–90 of 166 posts

Re: Microsoft is cutting 1,000 jobs in Finland as it stops phone production

#81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seems clear to me. They executed on a strategy and consumers weren't interested.

My wife really likes Windows Phone and wanted a Lumia 1020 for the camera. I offered her my 6+ and she refused. Trying to upgrade her to a new model is basically impossible. At the time we bought it if you went to any carrier store the Windows phones were clearly second class citizens with the best models not present. Carriers like T-Mobile wouldn't even sell you a decent model because they don't carry them at all an…

AT&T did a pretty good job of promoting them a few years ago, but my problem is that I had a HTC Titan II, then moved up to a Nokia 1020, then when it's screen broke, moved up to a... oh wait. Exactly like you said, there was no upgrade path.

They didn't release any new phone models for something like 3 solid years. At the same time, the Nokia purchase removed HTC (who was at least somewhat enthusiastic about the OS previously) from the Windows Phone ecosystem.

So if you're a die-hard Windows Phone fan, they went 3 years with no new phones for you to buy! It's no wonder the OS is struggling. And while the Nokia 1020 is a fine phone, I loved, loved, loved my HTC WinPhone and it's a damn shame I'll never be able to buy that combination of hardware and software ever again.

Re: Microsoft is cutting 1,000 jobs in Finland as it stops phone production

#82
post #32

I guess it is about time I stop making my hobby coding portable between WP and Android, focusing just on Android. Sad, because WP is actually much better from tooling and architecture point of view, but the way the whole WP 7, WP 8, WP 8.1 and the yet to become stable WP 10, just drove everyone off. Personally I was kind of pissed off, when the 512 MB devices were left out of the last preview update. Also it was the…

Why do you think Microsoft continues to develop Windows Phone?

Note that the former head of the Windows Phone group during the WP7 and WP 8.x timeframe, Terry Myerson, is now the head of the Windows division as a whole. Probably would have looked really bad for him politically if Windows Phone were shut down too soon after his promotion.

Re: Microsoft is cutting 1,000 jobs in Finland as it stops phone production

#83
The best thing that happened after MS essentially killed mobile division of Nokia is that Jolla was created. I hope Jolla will succeed. Their latest troubles and tablet project failure were unfortunate (I was a backer and won't be getting the tablet).

Re: Microsoft is cutting 1,000 jobs in Finland as it stops phone production

#84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's pretty easy to understand. Nokia was bought by the previous CEO.

It only makes sense if Microsoft is planning to kill Windows Phone (or whatever it's called now).

They'll kill it by not killing it.

Re: Microsoft is cutting 1,000 jobs in Finland as it stops phone production

#85
post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Minecraft is very much not destroyed. Nokia .. well, the burning platform was while they were still an independent company. Like Blackberry they failed to adapt to smartphones, and failed to understand their own niche.

Nokia .. well, the burning platform was while they were still an independent company. They were an independent company under control of a trusted general of Steve Ballmer. Nokia had a lot of goodwill in some regions, e.g. in Europe they were known for their excellent reliable and serviceable hardware. At the time the fear was that a switch to Android would reduce their margins, but I guess they'd still be around and…

A general that had a bonus clause on the contract offered by the Nokia board if he managed to sell the company.

If you had such a bonus on your contract what would you do?

Re: Microsoft is cutting 1,000 jobs in Finland as it stops phone production

#86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nokia was a disaster for years before Microsoft bought them. Given that the alternative appears to have been a steady decline into bankruptcy, I think Nokia did pretty well for themselves in that deal. They sold the company for a lot more than it was worth.

For Nokia this turned out to be a good deal. They got good money for the mobile phone business. If they would have sticked to it that might have been the end of the whole company. Now Nokia got several billions, bought Alcatel and continues other business. The feature phone business ended up in new company which is using Nokia's name and IPR and pays per unit royalties to Nokia. If this venture proves succesful, Noki…

The Finn press discovered that the Nokia board had offered a contract to Elop where he would get a large bonus if he managed to sell the company.

This was talked a lot in Finland, you can easily find it if you google for it, but Microsoft haters like to ignore this little action from Nokia board.

Re: Microsoft is cutting 1,000 jobs in Finland as it stops phone production

#88
post #42

I was around when the takeover of Nokia R&D happened in Febuary 2011, I remember walking around the offices of Ruohulati in Helsinki and seeing a massive queue to the IT room, previously linux laptops were being reformatted to run windows. I asked one of the project managers: "why, will it really change that much for us, I mean, there's hope right?" they responded: "This is a takeover, I've seen it before, they're ju…

What would have happened to Nokia phones if MS hadn't taken over? They pretty much dug their own hole.

They could've been in Samsung's place if they hadn't bet the farm on Windows Phone.

Re: Microsoft is cutting 1,000 jobs in Finland as it stops phone production

#89
post #42

I was around when the takeover of Nokia R&D happened in Febuary 2011, I remember walking around the offices of Ruohulati in Helsinki and seeing a massive queue to the IT room, previously linux laptops were being reformatted to run windows. I asked one of the project managers: "why, will it really change that much for us, I mean, there's hope right?" they responded: "This is a takeover, I've seen it before, they're ju…

I was also in Ruoholahti as well as Nokia House when they closed down Ruoholahti. Overnight Nokia turned into a cesspool of backstabbers who didn't add any real value, but managed to steal the credit from everyone else.

> but managed to steal the credit from everyone else.

Steal credit for what? What has come out of Microsoft's phone business since the Nokia purchase that anyone would want to take credit for?

Re: Microsoft is cutting 1,000 jobs in Finland as it stops phone production

#90
"... linux laptops were being reformatted to run windows."

Microsoft/Windows is a cancer. Ballmer once said Linux was a cancer. He later retracted, after it was well-known Microsoft itself uses Linux.

There's nothing more pathetic than when you see Microsoft's businesspeople or lawyers at conferences all faithfully using Windows, as if there was no other choice, and rambling on about how their products can solve any problem. These are not stupid people, but they are blinded to independent reasoning about computer software.

And then there are the people at Microsoft Research. What a waste (not for them -- they probably get paid handsomely). It is like MS is keeping these minds locked away, so the zombie-like adherence to Windows can persist. Keep the monopoly going.

Microsoft is a cancer on the brain. It creates a zombie-like, tunnel vision of computing. Everything must pass through Redmond.

Microsoft continues to remain dangerous to the future of computing, because they continue to work dilgently to effectively quell all independent thought from being implemented and made accessible to users.

Intent, malice, etc. is irrelevant. Regardless of why they do it, the end result is suppression of non-Microsoft software.

And now hardware.

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