Hasta La Gadget!

Much like how Google bought Motorola Mobility, Microsoft’s surprising acquisition of Nokia’s devices and services business — which is expected to be approved by early 2014 — is no indication that it will cut off ties with other partners in its own little ecosystem. This is emphasized by Terry Myerson, EVP, Operating Systems, on the official Windows blog.

“Acquiring Nokia’s Devices group will help make the market for all Windows Phones, from Microsoft or our OEM partners,” said the exec. “We collaborate with our Microsoft hardware teams in the same way we partner with our external hardware partners… We look forward to building new products together that will provide valuable business opportunity for the ecosystem and enable OEMs.”

In other words, Microsoft will — surprise, surprise — continue to license Windows Phone to other OEMs. Despite this reassurance, we highly doubt the handful of partners left are feeling totally comfortable about the situation.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Microsoft, Nokia

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Via: All Things D

Source: Windows Blog

Whoa. Big news from the middle of the night. According to Nokia, Microsoft will purchase “substantially” all of Nokia’s device and service arms as well as licensing the phone maker’s patents and mapping know-how. The Redmond company will pay Nokia a cool 3.79 billion euros ($4.99 billion) for the business, and 1.65 billion euros ($2.18 billion) for its patent armory.

Microsoft hopes that allying with its biggest Windows Phone manufacturer will speed up growth (and improve its smartphone market share) — the company is already promising “increased synergies.” CEO Steve Ballmer added: “It’s a bold step into the future – a win-win for employees, shareholders and consumers of both companies. 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.”

According to the companies’ press releases, 32,000 people will transfer across Microsoft, including 4,700 people in Finland and 18,300 employees directly involved in product manufacture. If you thought it was only the Windows Phone component of the phone business, you’d be wrong: Microsoft will also take into ownership Nokia’s Asha range of feature phones. Patent-wise, Microsoft gets 10-year non-exclusive license to its Finnish partner’s library of ideas and “reciprocal rights” to use Microsoft patents within its HERE mapping services. While Microsoft will be able to use the Nokia branding on its products, the Finnish company will now focus on its mapping, infrastructure and advanced tech arms.

Update: In Microsoft’s presentation on the rationale of the acquisition, the two parties state that “we are confident about our prospects for approval by early 2014.” Just a few more months to go!

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Microsoft, Nokia

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Source: Nokia

Rumors are circulating that Nokia’s first extra-large smartphone, possibly called the Lumia 1520, is near launch. If it’s real, you might be looking at it — Windows Phone Central has obtained a photo that purportedly shows the device for the first time. The snapshot presents a behemoth that makes even the Lumia 1020 look dainty. Unfortunately, there’s little to corroborate claims that a quad-core processor, a 20-megapixel camera and Windows Phone 8 GDR3 lurk inside. We’ve also seen a previous fake that looks like this, although the new phone’s bezel both matches that from a July part rumor and carries the prototype stamp common to Nokia test units. When there’s talk of Nokia unveiling the 1520 in late September alongside a Windows tablet, we may learn the truth behind the photo within a few weeks.

Filed under: Mobile, Nokia

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Source: Windows Phone Central

If you didn’t get enough mobile news during the week, not to worry, because we’ve opened the firehose for the truly hardcore. This week brought a free TV streaming service for Bell subscribers, the arrival of NFL Mobile to BlackBerry 10 and little bit of Windows Phone love from General Motors. These stories and more await. So buy the ticket and take the ride as we explore all that’s happening in the mobile world for this week of August 19th, 2013.

Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless, Mobile

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Earlier today, the Microsoft-built YouTube app for Windows Phone was unceremoniously disabled by Google. These kind of little inter-corporate kerfuffles happen from time to time, and usually resolve themselves without screwing too many users. But boy, Microsoft didn’t take it quietly.

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