After clearing many hurdles, it looks like Microsoft’s acquisition of Nokia’s ‘Devices and Services’ business is complete and will likely be announced at the company’s next earnings call which occurs next week on January 23rd. Nokia has reported that its ‘Devices and Services’ business is now listed as a discontinued operation and that its earnings call on January 23rd will break apart the three remaining business units HERE, Nokia Siemens, and Advanced Technologies, according to their press release.
For those who follow Nokia, this will be an interesting call as we will get a detailed understanding of the components that are left of the once cellphone giant. But with an additional $7.17 billion dollars in the bank, the company has a lot of cash to burn to help stabilize and expand the remaining assets.
With Microsoft now having control of the business unit, the company has swollen by around 32k employees and of course, Stephen Elop is once again a Microsoft employee. While he has been rumored to be a candidate to replace Ballmer, many believe that he is a distant third for the position.
We will be curious to see how Microsoft uses its new assets and considering that the business unit is the majority owner of the Windows Phone marketshare, the acquisition makes a lot of sense to help protect the Windows Phone brand. Of course, many will be curious to see what happens to the Normandy device that has been floating around and we would hedge that Microsoft is likely in no hurry to start selling an Android based device. While some believe that the Normandy device is the next step forward for the Asha line of products, it would be a tough pill to swallow for Microsoft to sell a product with a competitors OS.
Another interesting event to keep your eye on will be the Mobile World Congress event that takes place in February. This will be the first place that Microsoft could announce a new Lumia phone since acquiring the business unit. Seeing that Microsoft has been pulling out of major trade-shows lately, we will be curious to see if this has any affect on any Nokia planned MWC announcements.
With earnings being released by both Nokia and Microsoft on the same day, it would make sense that both companies will announce that the acquisition is complete. With a little less than a week away, we don’t have to wait too long to hear the announcement.
Thanks for the tip Jonathan!