Microsoft to Shed Up To 7,800 Jobs, Mostly in Phone Business

[space-time]

I guess it didn't go as well as planned.

http://www.nbcnews.com/business/business...ss-n388606

[Acer]

Microsoft has a phone business? Huh.

[cbelt3]

Acer wrote:
Microsoft has a phone business? Huh.

They bought Nokia.
http://www.engadget.com/2014/04/25/micro...r-details/

Windows Phone. Which is WAY beleagured. 2.7 % of the market in Q1 2015.

http://www.idc.com/prodserv/smartphone-o...-share.jsp

[MGS_forgot_password]

cbelt3 wrote:
They bought Nokia.

They bought Nokia's phone division. Nokia's still around and doing ok. (not great, but nobody in that industry is)

[Will Collier]

My work-provided cell is a Windows Phone. It makes an excellent paperweight.

[cbelt3]

I just noticed that they are taking a $ 7.6 BILLION asset impairment charge on the Nokia assets. Woof. That's $ 400 Million MORE than they paid for Nokia's device unit.

Yeah, that's a FAIL. A Ballmer Balls-Up.

[pdq]

Will Collier wrote:
My work-provided cell is a Windows Phone. It makes an excellent paperweight.

Ha.

When I joined my current employer in 2011, one of the perks I got was a free cell phone and service. A Blackberry. Well, it was free, right?

Recently they let us know Blackberry will NO LONGER BE SUPPORTED, and we need to select a new company cell phone, from a list of one: a Samsung ATIV (IIRC).

Oh well, it's free, and Samsung makes passable phones, and my wife uses Android, so...

wait. What?! yep - Windows Mobile.

Gotta say this for my company's IT department. They sure know how to pick em...wrong.

On T-Mobile's family plan, it's only $10 more a month to add one more smartphone with 2.5 gigs of data. I think rather than learning a new smartphone that's going away in a year, I'm gonna bite the bullet and just get an iPhone out of my own pocket.

[tronnei]

I met a guy a couple of years ago who had a Windows phone. It's the only one I've ever seen.

[SteveO]

Ballmer did them no favors. His persona just seemed to (and continues to) shroud that brand in uncool. At least Gates was a lovable nerd, a humble and amiable enough fellow from interviews I've seen. Ballmer...ummm, no...just the opposite and still at it even after he's left the company. He's the Dick Cheney/Donald Rumsfeld of the business world.

I don't think that phone or anything else "new" they make ever has a chance with the memory of Ballmer around. They have Office which is a mainstay and always will be. The rest...not trying to be cruel or insensitive, but I wish them luck. I have a buddy who is a super-good guy who works in marketing in their phone division. I imagine he'll lose his job. Sad.

[steve...]

What's the sprawling Microsoft campus in Redmond look like these days? Is it still all MS or are they leasing out buildings to other companies?