Windows Phone Central 162 Special Windows Phone Central Podcast

Windows Phone Central podcast 
Episode: 162 
Date: Tuesday, 03 September 2013 




Special edition: Microsoft purchases Nokia 




Conversation this week  




One of the more questionable rumours of this year has come to fruition as Microsoft has announced intentions to purchase Nokia’s devices and services business unit. We go through the facts and the important discussion points. 




Microsoft’s slides link: https://skydrive.live.com/redir?resid=33AB03F0B0091FCB!21846&authkey=!AHp2qnRpOXn6GWg   




The facts  





Microsoft has announced intentions to purchase Nokia’s devices and services unit 



Including licenses to all of Nokia’s patents for all products but NOT ownership of the entire patent portfolio 



Microsoft will however acquire 8500 design patents 



The bid is $7.2 Billion 



Purchase is due to close in Q1 2014 subject to shareholder approval and regulatory agreement 



Includes the transfer of staff including Elop 



Elop will be VP of the new “expanded” devices unit initially working parallel to Julie Larson-Green’s team, but eventually she will join his group 



Elop is now, as he always was, a candidate for the Microsoft CEO position 



Once the purchase is complete, the Nokia brand will not appear on smartphones (feature phones limited to 10 years) 



Microsoft have purchased the Lumia and Asha trademarks 



Microsoft has NOT purchased the HERE services group, will be a customer for the next 4 years 



There are no announced changes to the operating system team 



It is planned that one set of supporting services will be utilised across all Microsoft devices, this will eventually include Nokia’s services (other than HERE) 



No significant plans have been announced in regards to moving teams geographically, although some minor shuffling is to be expected 







Discussion 





With the Lumia brand staying, but the Nokia brand out the door, is this acquisition positive news for market share? 



Surface phone? Or just Lumia? 



Nokia’s lead designer is not part of the deal, will more Finnish engineers follow or will they continue to work for Nokia? 



How might the acquisition affect software development of the Windows Phone platform? 



The deal only involves 4 years of HERE licensing, what is the future for the HERE platform on Windows Phone? 



We know about the HERE platform, but where does this leave other services such as Nokia Music? 



Does this change how exclusive Nokia apps are developed, will said exclusives now become available across the entire platform? (Credit to @VanillaForg) 



How does this affect developers and the enhanced Nokia SDKs + Incentive programs 



What can consumers expect to change? 



The new devices unit will have more budget than Nokia did, does this mean more devices or more research? 



Will the other players in the Windows Phone OEM game be affected positively or negatively? 



How will Microsoft’s tablet business be affected considering the upcoming Nokia announcements? 



Is there anything to the conspiracy theories involving Elop? 




Community 





Live  Q&A 




Credits  




You can find us all on Twitter @wpcentral, @daniel_rubino, @coppertop004, @RichEdmonds, @JayTBennett, @PaulRAcevedo, @Big_D5, @samsabri 




This has been a Mobile Nations podcast, go to Mobilenations.com for more great shows covering everything mobile, or head over to the WPCentral Forums if you'd like to get involved with our community in discussing more about Windows Phone news, devices and apps. 




Thanks to the WPCentral Store for sponsoring the podcast. Thanks also to these great artists for the music and to CCMixter.org for offering a great database of Creative Commons music! 








Swim below as Leviathans by Fireproof Babies 



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