A thought about Nokia

[andrewducker]

Having noticed that Nokia's share price has fallen
off a cliff, I wonder whether Ballmer is thinking that it might be a
good time for Microsoft to own their own mobile phone company...

Comments

[matgb]

Well, at least MS know how to take advantage of a Good Thing.

Upgraded to an N8 last month, there's no way I'll be able to get a Pre³ on contract for awhile, and it is, simply, awesome, astoundingly good bit of kit, few issues with the UI defaults but nothing I can't solve, and does everything I want a phone to be able to do.

But almost immediately after they released it they announced it was dead.

30% YOY growth in the key market, 30%+ market share in a more than doubling market, and that's a reason to panic rather than fix. Stupid stupid stupid. Ah well, Symbian might live again at some point.

[recycled-sales.livejournal.com]

There were rumours.

I assumed that (apart from tax benefits) buying Skype was related to partnering with/ eventually buying Nokia. Phone companies must be desperate to remove the networks from the equation, and being able to package your own calling software that works within your own exclusive network would be a good incentive for that. A Micronokia phone that could work without a contract for calls to and from other Micronokia phones, and to/ from Windows PCs, Xbox 360s would be an interesting idea.

[recycled-sales.livejournal.com]

It's also worth pointing out that Microsoft seems to trying to take more control over their ecosystem, especially in the tablet and phone markets.

http://www.engadget.com/2011/06/01/microsoft-incentivizing-chipmakers-and-tablet-manufacturers-to-f/

http://www.engadget.com/2011/05/31/acer-says-microsoft-is-too-controlling-of-windows-tablets-res/

[strawberryfrog.livejournal.com]

Like this rumour?

I for one am bemused by our new Microskypkia communications network.

[andlosers.livejournal.com]

It'd make a bunch of sense for them, and I like the idea of it working together with Skype. Nokia has also started making Windows 7 netbooks, so for the first time (I think?), Microsoft would own its whole supply chain. The whole thing seems like a reactive counter-Apple move: even the Skype acquisition serves to offset FaceTime.

[strawberryfrog.livejournal.com]

Well, MS does do reactive counter-moves really well.

[andlosers.livejournal.com]

Very true. At least, from version 3 onwards.

[strawberryfrog.livejournal.com]

.Net was excellent from v2 onwards.
xBox is a success, only on 2nd iteration.
winPhone7 is a fresh start, arguably it is a v1 product, and technically it's sound.

All of these products are reactions to similar things from competitors.

All winPhone7 needs to take off is a way to get it onto millions of handsets ... wait.

[undeadbydawn.livejournal.com]

Xbox is still a loss leader.

Ballimer finally seems to be waking up to something Apple is doing right, even if he doesn't understand what that is. Buying another company in exactly the same circumstances would be a really nice irony.

the basic problem MS have [esp Ballimer] is a truly appalling lack of vision. A company littered with amazing ideas that go nowhere purely because the guys at the top Do Not Get It.

how sad that their profits still flow in from the same licence trap [Office, Win OS] Gates set up 20 years ago. Everything else makes a loss, or so little money that it barely matters.

[drdoug.livejournal.com]

Surely I'm not the only one to think this is rather like a large sauropod attempting to swallow an ankylosaur? Even if the attempt succeeds, and it does the sauropod any good, it's still not going to improve the long-term prognosis.

That said, it is very unwise to provoke something that huge until you're quite sure it is properly dead and even the hindbrain isn't able to make it twitchy. Even if it is in its death throes, it can squash you flat without thinking about it.

"Having noticed that Nokia's share price has fallen off a cliff, I wonder whether Ballmer is thinking ... that's just what I've done at Microsoft. Clearly this is a perfect match."

(If you look at MSFT's share price over history, and stick a label in where Ballmer took over as CEO, it's genuinely shocking if you've not seen it before.)

[undeadbydawn.livejournal.com]

last I checked MS has been flatlining while Google and Apple built some funky space ships with warp drives.