Microsoft just bought Nokia for $0 • Hacker News Board

Re: Microsoft just bought Nokia for $0

#71

Post by ghenne » Fri, Feb 11, 2011, 2:59 PM UTC

shareme wrote: post #68

ghenne wrote: post #49

Here's what is happening. Microsoft wants to buy Nokia, but not with all those buildings full of people. The announcements mean than Nokia can now get to work laying off tens of thousands of people. They don't need 120,000 employees anymore. Everybody involved in Symbian can go. Most of the Meego staff, too, as well as lots of middle and upper management. It won't cost Microsoft a cent in severance pay. Once it's all…

ah what have you been smoking? Nokia kept both MeeGO, Qt, and Symbian groups..

Check out these two slides from the Nokia-Microsoft presentation: http://www.engadget.com/2011/02/11/rip-symbian/ Symbian goes to 0. Meego is cut 75%. Services cut 20%.

As for QT, here is what the press release says:

"Qt will continue to be the development framework for Symbian and Nokia will use Symbian for further devices; continuing to develop strategic applications in Qt for Symbian platform and encouraging application developers to do the same. With 200 million users worldwide and Nokia planning to sell around 150 million more Symbian devices, Symbian still offers unparalleled geographical scale for developers.

Extending the scope of Qt further will be our first MeeGo-related open source device, which we plan to ship later this year. Though our plans for MeeGo have been adapted in light of our planned partnership with Microsoft, that device will be compatible with applications developed within the Qt framework and so give Qt developers a further device to target. "

So, QT on Symbian dies with Symbian, but stays on with crippled Meego.

Re: Microsoft just bought Nokia for $0

#72

Post by maxklein » Fri, Feb 11, 2011, 2:59 PM UTC

raganwald wrote: post #61

maxklein wrote: post #34

When I read such articles, that's when you realise that people are resistant to change. It's like those people still using Windows XP because it's the best. Tech is in constant change, but at some point, some people just give up and decide not to join in anymore: not to make facebook accounts, not to join twitter, not to upgrade their OS, not to switch browser. That's what this post is: someone refusing to face the c…

> That's what this post is: someone refusing to face the changing landscape of tech. I didn't read that at all, what I read was someone saying that change is necessary, but that this change has huge benefits for Microsoft but questionable benefits for Nokia. We should be wary of falling into the "politician's fallacy" from the delightful Britcom "Yes, Prime Minister:" We must do something. This is something. Therefor…

There is no other "something" to be done to save Nokia. It brings benefit to Microsoft, and it saves Nokia.

Re: Microsoft just bought Nokia for $0

#73

Post by marshray » Fri, Feb 11, 2011, 2:59 PM UTC

SudarshanP wrote: post #52

Nokia to developers: no Qt for Windows Phone development as posted on another HN thread. http://www.engadget.com/2011/02/11/nokia-notifies-developers... Linux(KDE) has a lot of Qt stuff. Will the Nokia Microsoft marriage hurt Linux badly in some way?

Oh wow, I hadn't thought of that.

Yeah I imagine this is likely to piss off Nokia's most loyal developers.

I doubt Linux distributions are going to notice. QT will continue to be a rock solid first class platform even with minimal new development. It already has more features than it needs. They could probably coast for a decade before it begins to hurt on Linux.

Re: Microsoft just bought Nokia for $0

#74

Post by gorog » Fri, Feb 11, 2011, 3:02 PM UTC

rodh257 wrote: post #65

Why is this on the front page? Come on. Anyone who thinks this deal isn't good for both parties is kidding themselves. After years of trying to create their own operating system Nokia have finally admitted they need to invest in an ecosystem. If they were to take on Android they'd be late to an already full party. With WP7 there's no one seriously pushing it, Dell, LG both aren't famous for their phones. HTC owes mos…

Plus Nokia certainly negotiated a great deal. If they get WP7 licenses for 1$ when others get it for 10$, they have room to provide better quality for the same retail price, while making comfortable margins. It's not because Apple develops its own OS that this strategy is the best for everyone. Nokia should better be the next Dell than the next Amiga. Also, carriers can't break WP7 like they can break Android (and block its updates).

Re: Microsoft just bought Nokia for $0

#75

Post by johnyzee » Fri, Feb 11, 2011, 3:07 PM UTC

What do you mean $0? From what I heard Microsoft paid several hundred million dollars in this deal.

Ah, here it is:

http://blogs.computerworld.com/17800/google_and_microsoft_of...

Note that a couple of hundred million was on the table from several bidders. If there are more than a few living braincells left at Nokia they probably got significantly more out of it than that.

Re: Microsoft just bought Nokia for $0

#76

Post by [deleted] » Fri, Feb 11, 2011, 3:09 PM UTC

maxklein wrote: post #72

raganwald wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> That's what this post is: someone refusing to face the changing landscape of tech. I didn't read that at all, what I read was someone saying that change is necessary, but that this change has huge benefits for Microsoft but questionable benefits for Nokia. We should be wary of falling into the "politician's fallacy" from the delightful Britcom "Yes, Prime Minister:" We must do something. This is something. Therefor…

There is no other "something" to be done to save Nokia. It brings benefit to Microsoft, and it saves Nokia.

[deleted]

Re: Microsoft just bought Nokia for $0

#77

Post by neutronicus » Fri, Feb 11, 2011, 3:14 PM UTC

jonhohle wrote: post #60

neutronicus wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think it's the same at all. All I use on my Android phone is e-mail, maps, the browser, and general phone stuff - honestly, I would trade the entire app store for a little more reliability and a better touch screen.

Just asking, but wouldn't the iPhone meet that need?

"a little more reliability" includes the network. So, until recently, no.

But, yes, I would love to own an iPhone on Verizon.

Re: Microsoft just bought Nokia for $0

#78

Post by neutronicus » Fri, Feb 11, 2011, 3:17 PM UTC

bad_user wrote: post #58

neutronicus wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think it's the same at all. All I use on my Android phone is e-mail, maps, the browser, and general phone stuff - honestly, I would trade the entire app store for a little more reliability and a better touch screen.

That's why I bought an iPhone; even though I'll never buy a Macbook or other Apple products. Being able to sync contacts / calendar back and forth to my Google Apps account is priceless.

Heh. I have a macbook pro.

Android does the gmail / google calendar sync fine. If there's one thing Android has never messed up, it's that. My Android phone messes enough stuff up often enough that I do wish I had an iPhone instead.

Re: Microsoft just bought Nokia for $0

#79

Post by Yzupnick » Fri, Feb 11, 2011, 3:18 PM UTC

marshray wrote: post #70

abijlani wrote: post #46

I completely disagree with the article. He treats both Nokia and Microsoft as though they have no idea what they are doing. Microsoft has decades of experience in coming up from behind place and crushing the competition. As for Nokia, they make really good hardware. They got caught up in selling cheap handsets because it was great business for a while but that does not mean they cannot make great hardware. I think th…

I can't think of many times when Microsoft has "come up from behind place and crushed the competition" when the competition was less than ten times smaller than they were. Perhaps enterprise adoption of .Net over Java is once such example. Can you think of others? I'd probably put Microsoft and Nokia at even odds in the phone market, but I really don't expect them to pass Android with something non open-source.

Xbox for one

Re: Microsoft just bought Nokia for $0

#80

Post by astrodust » Fri, Feb 11, 2011, 3:25 PM UTC

latch wrote: post #16

Some reports suggested that [considerable] money was part of the deal. Do we know for sure whether this is or isn't the case? "Microsoft invests $300 million in a strategic partnership with Nokia" is a lot different than "Microsoft just bought Nokia for $0."

When you're Microsoft, $300M is the same as $0 for any other company.

They're losing a few billion a year on their online division, yet still stay profitable overall, so $300M is really bus fare for a company that scale.