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[Milchjon]

We are moving from a strategy to grow a standalone phone business to a strategy to grow and create a vibrant Windows ecosystem including our first-party device family

Please decode this for me.

So they are not totally getting rid of phones, right?

 

[brotkasten]

Well, that's it then.

Please decode this for me.

So they are not totally getting rid of phones, right?

They're not getting rid of phones, but phones are getting the Surface treatment. They're going to be (flagship) showcase devices.

 

[Totakeke]

Please decode this for me.

So they are not totally getting rid of phones, right?

At the very least, the phone hardware business will be significantly less important. Pessimistically, it means they wish they could outright say they're getting rid of it.

 

[JaggedSac]

Please decode this for me.

So they are not totally getting rid of phones, right?

Getting rid of dumb phones more likely.

 

[derFeef]

Please decode this for me.

So they are not totally getting rid of phones, right?

To me it sounds like less hardware, focus on one "thing" - which can maybe be like Surface?

 

[Milchjon]

Oh, there's a full memo.

I am committed to our first-party devices including phones.

We plan to narrow our focus to three customer segments where we can make unique contributions and where we can differentiate through the combination of our hardware and software. We'll bring business customers the best management, security and productivity experiences they need; value phone buyers the communications services they want; and Windows fans the flagship devices they'll love.

Oh well. Doesn't sound completely terrible.

 

[captive]

Hopefully that means PROPER phone hardware, one phone (or two with a low-cost option), every few years.

I just read the whole email. Its here https://news.microsoft.com/2015/07/08/satya-nadella-email-to-employees-on-sharpening-business-focus/

He says they're going with phones for businesses, flagship phones, and value phones. So, essentially what they're doing now, but hopefully, maybe more focused.

 

[brotkasten]

What this really means is that we're not getting any of this anymore.


Lumia 430 Dual SIM
Lumia 435
Lumia 435 Dual SIM
Lumia 530
Lumia 530 Dual SIM
Lumia 532
Lumia 532 Dual SIM
Lumia 535
Lumia 535 Dual SIM
Lumia 540 Dual SIM
Lumia 630
Lumia 630 Dual SIM
Lumia 635
Lumia 638
Lumia 640
Lumia 640 Dual SIM
Lumia 640 XL
Lumia 640 XL LTE
Lumia 640 XL Dual SIM
Lumia 640 XL LTE Dual SIM
Lumia 730
Lumia 730 Dual SIM
Lumia 735
Lumia 830
Lumia 930

 

[JaggedSac]

I just read the whole email. Its here https://news.microsoft.com/2015/07/08/satya-nadella-email-to-employees-on-sharpening-business-focus/

He says they're going with phones for businesses, flagship phones, and value phones. So, essentially what they're doing now, but hopefully, maybe more focused.

Well, right now they are making and selling tons of dumb phones. MS has zero need to be in the dumb phone business.

And the post above mine.

 

[Sky Interloper]

I knew it was unavoidable, but damn at that writedown.
It seems the entire portfolio will be downsized and reoriented, so maybe they'll get that sorted out. Let's wait and see what happens there.

What this really means is that we're not getting any of this anymore.

Praise be to the Lord.

Well, right now they are making and selling tons of dumb phones. MS has zero need to be in the dumb phone business.

And the post above mine.

Maybe they'll sell the right to produce feature phones back to Nokia. They may sell a lot of them, but it doesn't align with their objectives in mobile at all.

 

[captive]

I knew it was unavoidable, but damn at that writedown.
It seems the entire portfolio will be downsized and reoriented, so maybe they'll get that sorted out. Let's wait and see what happens there.

GAF windows phone users wait and see? Pfft.

 

[brotkasten]

GAF windows phone users wait and see? Pfft.

Windows Phone: Waiting and seeing since 2010 ™

 

[Totakeke]

GAF windows phone users wait and see? Pfft.

Yeah, making this sound like optimistic news, hoping that they produce better stuff with less resources than before sounds like a stretch. If they wanted to do all the cool stuff why wouldn't they do it when they had a bunch of people twiddling their thumbs.

 

[Sky Interloper]

GAF windows phone users wait and see? Pfft.

Windows Phone: Waiting and seeing since 2010 ™

Considering we are the Soon™ community, it's not surprising.

 

[captive]

Windows Phone: Waiting and seeing since 2010 ™

I was going more along the lines of wait and bitch. Ain't no waiting and seeing going on here.

Yeah, making this sound like optimistic news, hoping that they produce better stuff with less resources than before sounds like a stretch. If they wanted to do all the cool stuff why wouldn't they do it when they had a bunch of people twiddling their thumbs.

Where are you seeing that they are going to have less resources? No one knows but Microsoft how many people are in the newly created devices group.

Also throwing more people at a problem doesn't usually work. If they actually pair down the phones to maybe 5 or 6 models total, with the only variants being carrier band, they could make 5 or 6 really good phones, instead of the 30+ they have now.

 

[Paganmoon]

Well, that's it then.



They're not getting rid of phones, but phones are getting the Surface treatment. They're going to be (flagship) showcase devices.

That's... a good thing though... right?

 

[Zeknurn]

It wouldn't be Wednesday if Windows Phone users weren't cowering in fear of the sky falling.

Nokia was bloated and inefficient. Downsizing it to be more in line of the Surface team makes sense since the Surface managed to do so much more with a fraction of the people.

 

[hadareud]

7800 people. Wow.

Phones. Today, we announced a fundamental restructuring of our phone business. As a result, the company will take an impairment charge of approximately $7.6 billion related to assets associated with the acquisition of the Nokia Devices and Services business in addition to a restructuring charge of approximately $750 million to $850 million.

I am committed to our first-party devices including phones. However, we need to focus our phone efforts in the near term while driving reinvention. We are moving from a strategy to grow a standalone phone business to a strategy to grow and create a vibrant Windows ecosystem that includes our first-party device family.

In the near term, we will run a more effective phone portfolio, with better products and speed to market given the recently formed Windows and Devices Group. We plan to narrow our focus to three customer segments where we can make unique contributions and where we can differentiate through the combination of our hardware and software. We'll bring business customers the best management, security and productivity experiences they need; value phone buyers the communications services they want; and Windows fans the flagship devices they'll love.

In the longer term, Microsoft devices will spark innovation, create new categories and generate opportunity for the Windows ecosystem more broadly. Our reinvention will be centered on creating mobility of experiences across the entire device family including phones.

My translation, there will be 3 phone groups

- low end
- mid point (business)
- flagship

Longer term, the innovation speak could mean that there's a niche device, too (camera?).

It's not unsensible, but they could have done that without gutting Nokia and fucking over tens of thousands of their employees.

 

[José Mourinho]

They're not getting rid of phones, but phones are getting the Surface treatment. They're going to be (flagship) showcase devices.

Honestly hope this is the case.

 

[brotkasten]

7800 people. Wow.
It's not unsensible, but they could have done that without gutting Nokia and fucking over tens of thousands of their employees.

But then Nokia would've continued to make phones and offered Android devices. If I can't have it, then no one can!

 

[hadareud]

But then Nokia would've continued to make phones and offered Android devices. If I can't have it, then no one can!

Yeah, there's a distinct whiff of that.

 

[hadareud]

I wonder what they will be doing about the naming.

They'll almost certainly keep the Lumia brand.

Maybe we'll see something similar to the Surface numbering/branding, like:

Lumia 1 (XL)
Lumia Pro 1 (XL)
Lumia Poundsaver (XL)

 

[Sky Interloper]

Yeah, there's a distinct whiff of that.

And people wonder why the shareholders sacked Ballmer.

 

[giga]

70% of the Finnish staff are being let go. Poor Nokia. Elop ruined them.

 

[Paganmoon]

I wonder what they will be doing about the naming.

They'll almost certainly keep the Lumia brand.

Maybe we'll see something similar to the Surface numbering/branding, like:

Lumia 1 (XL)
Lumia Pro 1 (XL)
Lumia Poundsaver (XL)

Microsoft Lumia Surface 650 Pro XL LTE Dual Sim etc.

Though, Could be Lumias go low/midrange, Surface Phone branding for business/highend?

Wouldn't mind their Flaghship being called Surface Phone tbh, I'd buy that.

 

[Totakeke]

Where are you seeing that they are going to have less resources? No one knows but Microsoft how many people are in the newly created devices group.

Also throwing more people at a problem doesn't usually work. If they actually pair down the phones to maybe 5 or 6 models total, with the only variants being carrier band, they could make 5 or 6 really good phones, instead of the 30+ they have now.

Less people = less resources. The difference is that they're not creating a new group and hiring new people, they inherited a group that has institutional experience creating phones of all ranges for decades.

 

[hadareud]

You'd buy the Lumia too, though.

I doubt it. I think they will want to have 2 distinct brands.

 

[Sky Interloper]

You'd buy the Lumia too, though.

I doubt it. I think they will want to have 2 distinct brands.

Considering the goodwill of the Surface brand, maybe they'll do what people first thought at the acquisition announcement and use the Lumia brand for low to mid devices and the Surface for their flagships.

 

[Lucius86]

Was in the office yesterday with my colleague who has a Lumia 930 - it really is a lovely piece of hardware, I do prefer it in looks to my Z3.

I still haven't seen an S6 in the wild.

 

[VanMardigan]

Was in the office yesterday with my colleague who has a Lumia 930 - it really is a lovely piece of hardware, I do prefer it in looks to my Z3.

I still haven't seen an S6 in the wild.

I have a 930 and an s6 edge. The edge is the best looking phone ever, though it is a usability nightmare without a case. The 930 is beautiful and solid. If needs to be thinner and lighter though.

 

[NeOak]

70% of the Finnish staff are being let go. Poor Nokia. Elop ruined them.

.

This.

So fucking this

:'(

 

[Doffen]

They're not getting rid of phones, but phones are getting the Surface treatment. They're going to be (flagship) showcase devices.

You do know how to turn me on ( ͡º ͜ʖ ͡º)

 

[Sky Interloper]

70% of the Finnish staff are being let go. Poor Nokia. Elop ruined them.

I think Elop will never return to Finland. He would be burned at the stake.

 

[NeOak]

So I guess Tomi Ahonen called it a long time ago.

:c

Edit: Also http://communities-dominate.blogs.c...it-7800-more-jobs-lost-and-76b-written-o.html

 

[hadareud]

So, first, my condolences to all ex Nokia staff who will lose jobs from these cuts. And my warning once AGAIN that this is not the end, there will be more cuts to come. And that this unit is already dead, it will be shut down or shifted to Surface or other business at Microsoft. The handset dream at Microsoft is still dead. It cannot be revived. It died in 2011 as first reported on this blog. The root cause for the reason why Windows Phone/Windows 10 can never succeed as a smartphone OS has nothing to do with the iPhone or Android, nothing to dio with apps, nothing to do with phones (the phones are pretty good). It is all dependent on the carriers/operators and the distribution channel which said in 2011 that because Microsoft bought Skype, and Skype is the only existential threat to the mobile telecoms business, the operators will not subsidise their own death..This is what then-Nokia CEO said to Nokia sharehiolders and Nadella knows this is what he hears from all his negotiations with major carriers/operators. The same thing Steve Ballmer heard when he was Microsoft CEO and tried this gambit. The operators do want a third ecosystem but they will never accept Windows Phone (Windows 10). Not because it happens to have (or not have) Skype. Its because MICROSOFT owns Skype. Owns the poison that would kill the telecoms operator business. That is why Windows and Lumia will never succeed in smartphones.

This might have had a bit of truth to it 4 years ago, but now? It's bollocks.

Other apps (Whatsapp, Viber, Apples solution etc.etc.) are there, and they are as popular if not more popular than Skype on mobile. The carriers reliance on voice calls and texts is no longer existent, at least not in Europe. It's all about data and data alone.

Also, always nice to see some self congratulatory patting of the shoulder in the light of thousands of people losing their jobs.

He's a far better ski jumper than he's a writer.

 

[Steelyuhas]

I still believe lumia was the best hardware on phones at the time, from high to low end devices. Too bad the software let them down, and yet its the software that lives on while the hardware division dies.

Edit: giga and his giddiness over this news is weird

The software let the hardware down? We're talking about the hardware division that hasn't had a flagship device in America in what...close to two years?

Well, let's see if the software lives on.

They're just now finishing up Windows 10, there's no way the software disappears anytime time.

Seems like they want more of a Surface strategy for phones instead of the 100 different device lineup. Doesn't seem like a bad thing for WP customers, but damn shame pretty much everyone from the Nokia division that was purchased has lost their job.

 

[José Mourinho]

This might have had a bit of truth to it 4 years ago, but now? It's bollocks.

Other apps (Whatsapp, Viber, Apples solution etc.etc.) are there, and they are as popular if not more popular than Skype on mobile. The carriers reliance on voice calls and texts is no longer existent, at least not in Europe. It's all about data and data alone.

Also, always nice to see some self congratulatory patting of the shoulder in the light of thousands of people losing their jobs.

He's a far better ski jumper than he's a writer.

Reads like nonsense really.

 

[Funky Papa]

Reads like nonsense really.

Considering that Windows Phone is only alive in Spain because of Telefónica (which HATES the fuck out of Skype and WhatsApp and lobbied the EU against net neutrality because of them), I call bullshit on that article.

Windows Phone is a disaster because Microsoft is incompetent. Period.

 

[hadareud]

Reads like nonsense really.

Considering that Windows Phone is only alive in Spain because of Telefónica (which HATES the fuck out of Skype and WhatsApp and lobbied the EU against net neutrality because of them), I call bullshit on that article.

Windows Phone is a disaster because Microsoft is incompetent. Period.

Well you say that, but I read a very similar theory the other day.

Only it was on the wall in a public toilet.

Written in shit.

 

[Klocker]

Whoops d/p

 

[Klocker]

I just read the whole email. Its here https://news.microsoft.com/2015/07/08/satya-nadella-email-to-employees-on-sharpening-business-focus/

He says they're going with phones for businesses, flagship phones, and value phones. So, essentially what they're doing now, but hopefully, maybe more focused.

Yes sounds like what we were discussing a couple days ago.

Be more focused and create more recognizable segmented products

...
Longer term, the innovation speak could mean that there's a niche device, too (camera?).
.

Continuum products and phones?

http://www.windowscentral.com/four-new-microsoft-devices-leak-continuum-munchkin

 

[Paganmoon]

You'd buy the Lumia too, though.

I doubt it. I think they will want to have 2 distinct brands.

Of course I would, I like the Lumia name too, but it's the OS that sells me on the device, they could name it whatever. I might stop short of buying an Xbox branded phone though.

But Surface Phone just has a nice ring to it.

 

[JaggedSac]

Yes sounds like what we were discussing a couple days ago.

Be more focused and create more recognizable segmented products




Continuum products and phones?

http://www.windowscentral.com/four-new-microsoft-devices-leak-continuum-munchkin

Their flagship devices that release this fall will be capable of that Continuum stuff.

 

[juliushandle]

Damn, Pureview, Lumia apps like Cinemagraph, etc, are all gonna get flushed in the toilet.

 

[JaggedSac]

Damn, Pureview, Lumia apps like Cinemagraph, etc, are all gonna get flushed in the toilet.

Why do you say that?

 

[Funky Papa]

Damn, Pureview, Lumia apps like Cinemagraph, etc, are all gonna get flushed in the toilet.

I can see Cinemagraph being dropped. Pureview? There's no fucking reason for it as long as Microsoft intends to launch flagship devices.

 

[Sky Interloper]

Damn, Pureview, Lumia apps like Cinemagraph, etc, are all gonna get flushed in the toilet.

Maybe the odd experimental ones, but their core imaging apps are going to stay or being integrated completely to the camera app. The Pureview cameras are pretty much second to none, so I don't see them getting rid of those, considering the importance people put into the camera when buying a new phone.

 

[Klocker]

Their flagship devices that release this fall will be capable of that Continuum stuff.

Yes but when thinking of "longer term plans" I think this is a huge part of where the see the future going and Munchkin is one of several hardware devises that will work with windows 10 to incorporate phones.

Munchkin for Continuum

However, the biggest news is in regards to Munchkin. MicrosoftInsider.es speculates that this may be for Windows 10 and indeed, Windows Central can confirm that this is part of the Continuum hardware needed to act as a PC. The device resembles and is similar to a docking station, including a selection of ports for USB peripherals and displays. The phone connects to the hub, which then outputs to a display with an optional keyboard and mouse. The result is your Windows Phone now acts like a full-fledged computer with Universal Windows Apps.


No price is set yet for Munchkin , which is likely to launch this fall alongside two new Microsoft flagship Lumias. At least we now know that Microsoft will have a bevy of hardware accessories to co-launch with Windows 10 Mobile in the coming months.

 

[Zeknurn]

http://www.neowin.net/news/more-details-emerge-on-microsofts-windows-phone-plans

The source revealed that Microsoft now plans to launch just one or two models per year in each of these three market segments, indicating that the company intends to dramatically reduce the number of devices in its range.

..

Significantly, the source also said that Microsoft plans to exit markets where sales of its Windows Phones have been especially weak, but exactly which markets face the chop isn't yet clear. The person added that the company will also end carrier partnerships that aren't working out.

This is what we all wanted.

 

[JaggedSac]

http://www.neowin.net/news/more-details-emerge-on-microsofts-windows-phone-plans



This is what we all wanted.

So they are bailing on the US?