Monday, September 2, 2013

NOK sells Devices & Services division to MSFT; MSFT installs Elop as head of division.

So, the big news tonight is that Microsoft has agreed to buy out the Devices and Services division at Nokia, which is the group responsible for feature and smart phones, as well as an expected RT tablet.  In turn, Nokia CEO Stephen Elop is leaving Nokia and joining Microsoft to head their newly added-on Devices and Services division.

In essence, Microsoft sent Stephen Elop to Nokia to get them to adopt Windows Phone and RT while devaluing the company so that Microsoft could acquire it on the cheap, then bring Elop back.  Well, if you're cynical about it, that is.

So, I sort of got the prediction right in Feb 2011:
"And when I say that Nokia is doomed, what I really mean is that Elop will be gone in less than two years, though it might occur as early as calendar Q1-2012, and that Nokia might end up selling itself to a Chinese competitor or to Google.  Lord knows, Google has longed for the ability to make its own mobile phones, if only to push other manufacturers to incorporate new technologies at a much faster pace.  But if tossed out early enough, Nokia might be able to salvage MeeGo. 
I'm calling it: Ballmer is out as CEO at Microsoft, by 2013, when investors realize that Ballmer and company completely missed out on the tablets and smart phone markets."
It was slightly more than two years, and Nokia ended selling its D and S to Microsoft instead of to a Chinese competitor or Google.  But hey I should get major points --BOOYA! -- for citing the departure of Elop from Nokia and Ballmer at Microsoft, more or less within that time line, right?  No one else came up with that prediction as early as 2011.

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