Microsoft and the former world leader in phone-making Nokia finally completed their $7.5 billion mega deal on Friday, Business Week reported. The agreement was supposed to become official in the first quarter of 2014, but it was consistently delayed in the approval process.
Now that Nokia, their 25,000 employees (in 50 countries), and pending patents are under Microsoft's control, the company's general plan will focus on technology development, networks, and mapping services. Once they release their first-quarter earnings report (the last one for the struggling company), they'll include a more detailed plan of their post-acquisition approach. It will likely involve something to do with phone-making. Though Microsoft, of course, already makes their own phones, the added insight brought by Nokia might help them compete with the indomitable iPhone. Some may have forgotten that Nokia has (or had) a smart phone under its belt, the Lumia. The most recent version received favorable reviews.
"The new Nokia can now go forward and concentrate on its remaining assets," Neil Mawston of Strategy Analytics told Business Week. "It has one of the best IPR (intellectual property rights) assets in the entire industry and it has good mapping services."
Nokia will even retain their CEO Stephon Elop, who will transition to executive vice president of Microsoft's Devices Unit.
