naijaXclusive: smartphone

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Left back in the smartphone race by the likes of Samsung & Apple,
 Nokia seems to be nearing a total collapse as they have sold their 
major handset business to software giants Microsoft for $7.2billion.<br />
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<a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/09/03/us-microsoft-nokia-idUSBRE98202V20130903">Reuters</a>
 reports that Nokia, which will continue as a maker of networking 
equipment and holder of patents, was once the world’s dominant handset 
manufacturer but was long since overtaken by Apple and Samsung in the 
highly competitive market for more powerful smartphones.</div>
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Nokia’s
 Canadian boss Stephen Elop, who ran Microsoft’s business software 
division before jumping to Nokia in 2010, will now return to the U.S. 
firm as head of its mobile devices business.</div>
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He
 is being discussed as a possible replacement for Microsoft’s retiring 
CEO Steve Ballmer, who is trying to remake the U.S. firm into a gadget 
and services company like Apple before he departs, after disastrous 
attempts so far to compete in mobile devices.</div>
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In
 three years under Elop, Nokia saw its market share collapse and its 
share price shrivel as investors bet heavily that his strategy would 
fail.</div>
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In 2011, after writing a memo 
that said Nokia was falling behind and lacked the in-house technology to
 catch up, Elop made the controversial decision to use his former firm 
Microsoft’s Windows Phone for smartphones, rather than Nokia’s own 
software or Google’s ubiquitous Android operating system.</div>
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Nokia,
 which had a 40 percent share of the handset market in 2007, now has a 
mere 15 percent market share, with an even smaller 3 percent share in 
smartphones.</div>
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The sale of the handset 
business is not the first dramatic turn in the 148-year history of a 
company which has sold everything from television sets to rubber boots. 
But it was felt as a hard blow in its native Finland, even among 
hard-nosed investors who saw the sale as a final chance to salvage 
value.</div>
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“I have mixed feelings, because
 I’m a Finn. As a Finnish person, I cannot like this deal. It ends one 
chapter in this Nokia story,” said Juha Varis, Danske Capital’s senior 
portfolio manager whose fund owns Nokia shares. “On the other hand, it 
was maybe the last opportunity to sell it.”</div>
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Varis
 was one of many investors critical of Elop’s decision to bet Nokia’s 
future in smartphones on Microsoft’s Windows phone software, which was 
praised by tech reviewers but never caught on with consumers.</div>
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“So this is the outcome: the whole business for 5 billion euros. That’s peanuts compared to its history,” he said.</div>
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Finns
 lamented the decline of their former champion. Alexander Stubb, 
Finland’s minister for European Affairs and Foreign Trade, said on his 
Twitter account: “For a lot of us Finns, including myself, Nokia phones 
are part of what we grew up with. Many first reactions to the deal will 
be emotional.”</div>
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It is also a pivotal 
moment for Microsoft, which still has huge revenues from its Windows 
computer operating system, Office suite of business software and the 
X-Box game console, but never managed to set up a profitable mobile 
device business.</div>
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Microsoft’s own mobile gadget, the Surface tablet, has sold tepidly since it was launched last year.</div>
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“It’s
 a bold step into the future — a win-win for employees, shareholders and
 consumers of both companies,” Ballmer said in a statement. “Bringing 
these great teams together will accelerate Microsoft’s share and profits
 in phones and strengthen the overall opportunities for both Microsoft 
and our partners across our entire family of devices and services.”</div>
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The
 move leaves the Finnish company with Nokia Solutions and Networks, 
which competes with the likes of Ericson and Huawei in telecoms 
equipment, as well as a navigation business and a broad portfolio of 
patents, which will be licensed to Microsoft.</div>
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Xclusive: Nokia Sells Phone Business To Microsoft For $7.2billion

Left back in the smartphone race by the likes of Samsung & Apple, Nokia seems to be nearing a total collapse as they have sold their ...