Microsoft's Nokia Plans Come Into Better Focus 149
Forbes has an update on what sort of future Nokia faces, as Microsoft reveals a strategy for making sense of the acquisition:
[Microsoft EVP of devices Stephen] Elop laid out a framework for cost cuts in a memo to employees on July 17. Devices would focus on high and low cost Windows smartphones, suggesting a phasing out of feature phones and Android smartphones. Two business units, smart devices and mobile phones, would become one, thereby cutting overlap and overhead. Microsoft would reduce engineering in Beijing and San Diego and unwind engineering in Oulu, Finland. It would exit manufacturing in Komarom, Hungary; shift to lower cost areas like Manaus, Brazil and Reynosa, Mexico; and reduce manufacturing in Beijing and Dongguan, China. Also, CEO Satya Nadella gave hints about how Microsoft will make money on Nokia during Tuesday' conference call. Devices, he said, "go beyond" hardware and are about productivity. "I can take my Office Lens App, use the camera on the phone, take a picture of anything, and have it automatically OCR recognized and into OneNote in searchable fashion. There is a lot we can do with phones by broadly thinking about productivity."
In other words, the sale of a smartphone is a means to other sales.
It's a funny world (Score:2, Interesting)
I am a Unix/Linux user since 1995. I used Symbian and i liked it, and i have several android devices (first was the galazy tab). Now Microsoft killed Nokia. Nokia killed Symbian.
I am looking for a new tablet/PC currently. I tested some Windows 8.1 Tablets (Lenovo and others), and i have to say (besides the colored rectangles on the start screen): Well done
by leaving many things unchanged. For the first time in about 20 years i consider buying a microsoft OS on an new computer (for personal use).
Re:It's a funny world (Score:2, Interesting)
20 years? It's 2014. So that means since 1994.
So you've rejected Windows 95,
and you've rejected Windows 98,
and you've rejected Windows XP,
and you've rejected Windows 7,
but now, after all this time, you're embracing Windows 8.1?
I reject you. You've got the worse decision-making that I've seen in the last 20 years.
Re:It's a funny world (Score:4, Interesting)
Yeah, actually i bought OS/2 instead of windoes 3.1/windows 95. In 1993.
You forgot NT 4.0 and NT 3.51
I did not reject windows. I did just not see any reason to switch from linux in the last 20 years and pay for a newly installed computer. I think XP is OK - were are cheap used licenses around.
I find windows 8.1 similar enough and all the features which are mandatory for me are embedded, and the price point of the tablets seems ok.
Mini-Nokia still thriving (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Sigh, that's another waste of time then. (Score:5, Interesting)
Why does the OS lack when there's just a lack of apps? Seriously? The OS is fine.
No, it's not. If it were just a lack of apps being ported to it, that's one thing, but that isn't it.
The point of a smartphone (to some people such as myself) is to have a swiss army knife for information gathering. As a network admin, one of my things is being able to troubleshoot network problems. Android (and iOS as well, though I don't own an iPhone) allow for these kinds of features really well, and I can use apps like Fing and WiFi Analyzer. However the underlying OS code for those two apps cannot be done on either Windows RT or Windows Phone.
The same story can be said for a lot of things. There quite a number of WP apps where if you read where users are complaining about why the WP version of X app doesn't support Y feature that it also does on Android, and they blame the developer for being "lazy" but the truth is that WP doesn't support the underlying feature in most cases.