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I hope Ballmer and Gates have a dedicated CEO in mind now that Ballmer's leaving... very few people will be able to lead a company this large, and it will be quite a tragedy if Microsoft's reputation declines and takes down Nokia with it.
I heard a rumor that Paul Graham is being courted, but it is probably disinformation.
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.
And now Microsoft has a hardware division. I can easily see most hardware vendors being ousted by the trio of Google/MS/Apple - all of whom now either make or have been making their own hardware to go along with their software. And so the walled garden grows...
They already have several hardware products including Xbox, Kinnect, keyboards, mice, and the Surface.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
They already have several hardware products including Xbox, Kinnect, keyboards, mice, and the Surface.
With the exception of the folks doing keyboards (which they have been serially been screwing up for the last ten years) Microsoft has some very good hardware people. The Surface was a nice piece of kit, but way expensive (for unavoidable reasons, I hear) and running the wrong software (also for unavoidable reasons).
People think the Surface is expensive because they compare it to the iPad or Nexus 7/10 product lines, but it seems like Windows RT is closer to a port of Windows 8 to ARM than anything else, which makes it seem odd that you'd think to run Windows Rt on a $200 tablet.
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…
Nothing will change as a result of this.
I found this statement interesting - "Microsoft will draw upon its overseas cash resources to fund the transaction." I've seen it mentioned quite a few times that tech companies end up with massive overseas cash reserves they can't repatriate for tax reasons. Anyone with better knowledge of finance/tax want to chime in with whether this makes the deal even more attractive for MS?
If Microsoft moved money in the United States, it would pay the difference in taxes -- namely, 22.5%. But if Microsoft spent the money outside the United States, then it would not pay this difference.
Incidentally, Finland will be reducing its corporate tax rate next year, from 24.5% to 20%.