Satya Nadella hasn’t quite finished swinging his axe just yet. In a company-wide email that announced that 18,000 jobs will be “eliminated”, there was also the announcement that
Towards the end of the email, Nadella explains that the Nokia Devices and Services team will be integrated and that
He continued: “In addition, we plan to shift select Nokia X product designs to become Lumia products running Windows. This builds on our success in the affordable smartphone space and aligns with our focus on Windows Universal Apps.”
Stephen Elop, executive vice president, further explained the company’s plans for Nokia: “We will be particularly focused on making the market for Windows Phone. In the near term, we plan to drive Windows Phone volume by targeting the more affordable smartphone segments, which are the fastest growing segments of the market, with Lumia.
The end of a very short era
He continued: “In addition to the portfolio already planned, we plan to deliver additional lower-cost Lumia devices by shifting select future Nokia X designs and products to Windows Phone devices. We expect to make this shift immediately while continuing to sell and support existing Nokia X products.”
It appears that Microsoft is looking to create a unique ‘one OS’ experience across all of its devices, rather than confuse the brand by adding its rival, Android, to the mix.
Elop was keen to point out the availability of universal Windows apps and he talked about “continuing the enrich the Windows application ecosystem”. This is the direction all platform players are going, with
Other devices, however, such as Microsoft's Surface tablets and Xbox will undergo “limited change” according to Elop. Most of today’s announced upheaval affects Nokia, with more than half of the job losses coming from Nokia’s division.
There are plans to flood the affordable smartphone market with Windows Lumia devices, which, as Elop explains, is one of “the fastest growing segments of the market”. Conversely, to tackle the high-end market, Microsoft will look to break new ground and innovate to entice more customers into its ecosystem. To do so, Elop said that the new devices department will “take advantage of innovation from the Windows team.”
The engineering for these new devices will be shifted away from Nokia’s Oulu, Beijing and San Diego satellite offices, and moved to the Salo and Tampere offices in Finland. Which will focus on the high-end Lumia and affordable products respectively. The Beijing and San Diego offices will continue to have a supporting role, with the Chinese division working on affordable devices and the US division focussing on US specific requirements.
