Analysis: Nadella threatens to consign Microsoft to a future of desktop obscurity

[JMH]

The prevailing wisdom is that Windows Phone is an unmitigated disaster that has failed globally. Microsoft appears to have responded accordingly, gutting what was left of its phone division with 7,800 layoffs and writing down $7.6 billion of assets acquired in the purchase of Nokia's Devices and Services business.

This comes shortly after last week's announcements that an image acquisition group that was formerly part of the Bing Maps team was being sold to Uber, and that the display ads business was being sold to AOL.

In the mission statement Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella disseminated late last month, he said that there would be "tough choices" ahead. It's not clear just how tough it was to choose to get rid of a division that he reportedly didn't want anyway, but I assume this is what he had in mind.

Today's announcement was paired with another missive from the CEO that continues the trend of buzzword-heavy content-light statements. This affirmed the mapping and advertising changes, and purportedly laid out the new vision for phones.

Analysis: Nadella threatens to consign Microsoft to a future of desktop obscurity | Ars Technica

 

[Cayden]

A huge disappointment for myself. A Nokia phone (Or at least a Windows phone) was the only smartphone of choice for me; I enjoy the iPhone but they are too pricey. I suppose that means there will no longer be any mobile Windows operating systems, and no more Nokia phones? Is there any time when support for the product(s) will end? Or will we have a small set of support for a long time?