Microsoft to cut 18,000 jobs world-wide

[HarryT]

From the BBC News web site:

Microsoft is to cut up to 18,000 jobs marking the deepest cuts in the technology firm's 39-year history.

The bulk of the cuts, around 12,500, will be in its phone unit Nokia, which Microsoft bought in April, the firm said.

Microsoft pledged to cut $600m (£350.8m) per year in costs within 18 months of closing the acquisition.

The cuts are much more severe than the 6,000 initially expected.

The firm employs 127,000 globally, including 3,500 staff in the UK.

Microsoft declined to say how many jobs in the UK would be cut as a result of the changes.

Chief executive officer Satya Nadella, who took the helm in February, wants the firm to shift its focus away from software to online services, apps and devices.

"Making these decisions to change are difficult, but necessary," Mr Nadella wrote in the announcement to staff.
...

For more information, see:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-28348223

[GERGE]

Well, Nokia used to do its own software; now Microsoft does it. Nothing surprising about the cutoffs, this was being expected since they acquired Nokia.

But I don't think this has anything to the with e-books in general.

[RZetlin]

Originally Posted by GERGE

Well, Nokia used to do its own software; now Microsoft does it. Nothing surprising about the cutoffs, this was being expected since they acquired Nokia.

But I don't think this has anything to the with e-books in general.

Unless you own a Windows 7 phone.

Anyway you look at it, I hate to be the worker at Microsoft knowing you may lose your job soon.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by GERGE

But I don't think this has anything to the with e-books in general.

Not ebooks, no, but certainly Windows Phone.

[pl001]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Not ebooks, no, but certainly Windows Phone.

And Windows 8 tablets.

[HarryT]

Related news:

Microsoft is to stop developing Android-powered smartphones beyond those already available, the BBC understands.

Nokia X models will now become part of the Lumia range and run the Windows Phone operating system, although existing Android handsets will continue to be supported.

The move comes as Microsoft announced 18,000 job cuts across its workforce.
...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-28348534

[DiapDealer]

Surely this is Amazon's fault somehow.

[fjtorres]

Hardly unexpected since Nokia was non-viable as a standalone entity and MS did not buy it to keep subsidizing it indefinitely. The manufacturing sites they are keeping are the lowest cost *and* highest value-add ones; in Vietnam, Finland, China, and a reduced presence in California.

The focus on the two extremes is interesting: very low-end for volume propagation of WinPhone and the high end for corporate productivity. If they replicate it on tablets, we may get to see a very interesting Windowz mini tablet. And that could have big impact on ereading.
(x86 Surface/Xbox tablet well under $200, for example.)

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by GERGE

Well, Nokia used to do its own software; now Microsoft does it. Nothing surprising about the cutoffs, this was being expected since they acquired Nokia.

Microsoft kills yet another company. (What a surprise.) Nokia should have gone with Android instead of letting themselves be bribed by Microsoft.

[HarryT]

Nokia would probably have gone bust if someone hadn't bought them.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Nokia would probably have gone bust if someone hadn't bought them.

This ^

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Nokia would probably have gone bust if someone hadn't bought them.

It would have taken a lot longer than what it took for Microsoft to kill them. And, personally, combining their good hardware with Android (82% of the worldwide smartphone market) would have given them a lot better chance than combining their good hardware with the Windows Phone OS.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by rcentros

It would have taken a lot longer than what it took for Microsoft to kill them. And, personally, combining their good hardware with Android (82% of the worldwide smartphone market) would have given them a lot better chance than combining their good hardware with the Windows Phone OS.

Industry analysts disagree with you. From the BBC News article I linked to earlier in the thread:

Nokia unveiled its first family of Android phones at the Mobile World Conference in Barcelona in February.

The release of the smartphones, which were priced at the lower end of the market, was described as a "perplexing strategic move" at the time, given that Microsoft had its own mobile operating system, Windows Phone.

[Dopedangel]

Nokia has a huge market of Asha phones in India and other asian countries. Microsoft getting out of that in 18 months and Google promising to invest millions in promoting Android One smartphones in India from this fall makes it an interesting market to watch.
The real smartphone growth is going to come from India and other asian countries around it that have less than 10% smartphone penetration currently. And population of more than 1.5 billion. Most of these countries have just started deploying 4g mobile services some even skipping 3g+ in the process.

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Industry analysts disagree with you. From the BBC News article I linked to earlier in the thread:

About two (three?) years too late. And the article is speaking specifically of the non-Google (Nokia X) low-end "Android" phones (with tiles and without the Android Market and other Google services). It was neither fish nor foul. Of course these were a disaster waiting to happen. What I'm talking about is the original decision not to merge their top of the line phones with the full Android OS, something that Nokia reportedly considered doing before accepting Microsoft's bribe and making the fateful move to the Windows Phone disaster.