Posted on 05/25/2016 1:02:24 PM PDT by Swordmaker
The company is taking a $950 million charge to unwind the last vestiges of the Nokia deal.
div class="c-entry-content">
Microsoft is further scaling back its flagging phone business, exiting the consumer market and cutting another 1,850 jobs.
As part of the move announced Wednesday, Microsoft will take a $950 million charge and cut what little remained of its Finland-based phone hardware business, unwinding the last of its disastrous $7.2 billion acquisition of Nokia's phone unit.
Last week, Microsoft announced separately that it was selling what was left of its low-end "feature phone" business.
The company has been scaling back its phone ambitions ever since the Nokia deal closed, with CEO Satya Nadella quickly shifting to a strategy focused on bringing Microsoft's software and services to Android and iOS rather than trying to convince phone buyers to shift to Windows.
Despite all the cuts — and having already seen its market share dip below 1 percent — Microsoft says it isn't totally out of the phone-making business.
The company insists it will continue to serve phones aimed at the business market and license Windows 10 to any other hardware makers that want to give Windows Phone a try.
"When I look back on our journey in mobility, we’ve done hard work and had great ideas, but have not always had the alignment needed across the company to make an impact," Microsoft's Windows and Devices head Terry Myerson wrote in an email to staff.
While the company said Wednesday to expect new Microsoft-made phone models, it declined to offer any specifics on its future hardware roadmap or to say why an even more decimated phone lineup will have greater appeal than the current one.
Microsoft moved last summer to limit the number of countries in which it sold phones and to focus on three main customer segments: Windows enthusiasts, entry-level smartphones and the business market.
Already by then it was hard to see how Microsoft could win by scaling back.
"It’s hard to see Microsoft’s massive phone layoffs leading to something other than an eventual exit from the phone business," Recode wrote at the time.
Here's Myerson's full memo to Microsoft employees:
To: Microsoft - All Employees
From: Terry Myerson
Date: Wednesday 5/25, 2AM Pacific Time
Subject: Focusing our phone hardware efforts
Team,
Last week we announced the sale of our feature phone business. Today I want to share that we are taking the additional step of streamlining our smartphone hardware business, and we anticipate this will impact up to 1,850 jobs worldwide, up to 1,350 of which are in Finland. These changes are incredibly difficult because of the impact on good people who have contributed greatly to Microsoft. Speaking on behalf of Satya and the entire Senior Leadership Team, we are committed to help each individual impacted with our support, resources, and respect.
For context, Windows 10 recently crossed 300 million monthly active devices, our Surface and Xbox customer satisfaction is at record levels, and HoloLens enthusiasts are developing incredible new experiences. Yet our phone success has been limited to companies valuing our commitment to security, manageability, and Continuum, and with consumers who value the same. Thus, we need to be more focused in our phone hardware efforts.
With this focus, our Windows strategy remains unchanged:
1. Universal apps. We have built an amazing platform, with a rich innovation roadmap ahead. Expanding the devices we reach and the capabilities for developers is our top priority.
2. We always take care of our customers, Windows phones are no exception. We will continue to update and support our current Lumia and OEM partner phones, and develop great new devices.
3. We remain steadfast in our pursuit of innovation across our Windows devices and our services to create new and delightful experiences.Our best work for customers comes from our device, platform, and service combination.
At the same time, our company will be pragmatic and embrace other mobile platforms with our productivity services, device management services, and development tools -- regardless of a person’s phone choice, we want everyone to be able to experience what Microsoft has to offer them.
With that all said… I used the words “be more focused” above. This in fact describes what we are doing (we’re scaling back, but we’re not out!), but at the same time I don’t love it because it lacks the emotional impact of this decision. When I look back on our journey in mobility, we’ve done hard work and had great ideas, but have not always had the alignment needed across the company to make an impact. At the same time, Ars Technica recently published a long story documenting our journey to create the universal platform for our developers. The story shows the real challenges we faced, and the grit required to get it done. The story closes with this:
And as long as it has taken the company, Microsoft has still arguably achieved something that its competitors have not... It took more than two decades to get there, but Microsoft still somehow got there first.
For me, that’s what focus can deliver for us, and now we get to build on that foundation to build amazing products.
I’ll look for it. Someone else on FR recommended a program, also free, called GWX. I did install that and removed two W10 files that had piggybacked in one W7 update.
You all are so incredibly helpful to us whose depth of computer knowledge is often challenged. Thanks much. Have a wonderful Memorial Day.
I love SpinRite and everything Steve Gibson makes available.
IIRC, my first version of SpinRite was the original (on a 5.25” floppy lol), back in the ‘80s. I have bought/upgraded to nearly every version, and now own the latest: SpinRite 6. Using it, I have totally and perfectly rescued a number of HDDs that had failed, including all corrupted/lost files. Never found a HDD that couldn’t be saved with SpinRite, the ONLY disk recovery program that I trust.
I have used a lot of his free utilities over the years and loved each of them.
Gibson is fluent in many popular micro, mini, and mainframe computer machine/assembly languages, which makes program code very small, tight, clean, and extremely fast.
I wish he would create an entire OS in Assembly Language, what a dream OS that would be on any machine (and a really monsterous project, LOL).
No problemo. You are so immersed in all things Apple that you know nothing about Microsoft and Steve Balmer...just kidding!!!But amazing how Microsoft made 10 billion go pffft! This takes some real skills.
They are not getting out, at least according to this memo. They are moving ahead with Continuum.
Thank you, Microsoft, for dragging me into the world of smartphones.
I’m not fond of GSM, but my daughter seems to be happy with it, so maybe it has improved.
With the hub-bub oF Cankles not beings able to effectively make a desktop computer work and “having” to be slaved to Blackberries and smartphones, MicroJUNK has abandon the cell phone market. Despite the fact that they are all computers.
Windows OS has been self obfuscating since TabWorks in Win 3.1. Up untill this very day, Windows OS will deceive you, try to trick you, and even lie to you with pop ups in order to get you to digitally upgrade to their latest OS, which will have redesigned all the useful system tweaks to be all but inaccessible to the user forcing additional software to be used to maintain the same or degraded functionality that your tool had just moments before. Dont even get me going on Blue Tooth compatibility/convenience or the daily task of reminding my desktop computer that it is not a mobile device nor does it have a touch screen and it hasnt changed location in more than a year.
This box is the last Dell or Microjunk product I will own. My boycott started when MS forced me away from XP. Three OSs later I am still searching for Windows based solutions to lead me back to that lost lush green pasture that I know has long since been paved over. I have 3 boxes running Ubuntu/ Fedora, the wife’s work phone is Apple, the 5 other computer devices are all Andriod of various flavors.
Microsoft just needs to give up. They are dead to me. And its of their own doing.
I actually went back to Android so I could connect my Toyota to the Internet and enjoy Pandora and Traffic updates. This feature REQUIRES iOS or Android. No Windows Mobile support.
:-(
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.