Microsoft cuts 1850 jobs in its smartphone unit

Microsoft acquired Nokia's Devices and Services business back in 2013 for a record $7.1 billion.

Nokia's mobile business acquisition would certainly go down as one of the costlier missteps in Microsoft's history. Microsoft plans to shed up to 1,850 jobs, mostly in Finland, and there by write down $950 million from the business. Employees working for Microsoft Oy, a separate Microsoft sales subsidiary based in Espoo, Finland, will not be affected by the layoffs. It also reduced the number of smartphones it offered and took a $7.6 billion accounting charge, writing off almost the entire value of the Nokia deal.

"But Nadella's vision for Windows 10 is predicated on delivering the operating system to any screen, whether its a watch, a giant TV or a phone". Phones running Microsoft's software now make up only a small portion of the overall market.

"I expected them to keep trying", he said.

Microsoft said in a statement it would continue to develop the Windows 10 platform and support its Lumia smartphones, but did not specify whether it would develop new Windows phones.

Yet our phone success has been limited to companies valuing our commitment to security, manageability, and Continuum, and with consumers who value the same.

As a result, Nokia and Microsoft slashed thousands of Finnish jobs over the past decade.

The Windows 10 Mobile OS update came out for the users of many older Nokia Lumia phones such as Lumia 1520, 930, 640, 640XL, 730, 735, 830, 532, 535, 540, 635 1GB, 636 1GB, 638 1GB, 430, 435, BLU Win HD w510u, BLU Win HD LTE x150q, and the MCJ Madosma Q501 devices.

However, Microsoft hasn't backed off plans to bring out a new range of small mobile devices in the spring of 2017.

Many tech analysts have interpreted the latest move as Microsoft's way of saying that it is done with the manufacturing of mobile devices.

"The company must bear as big a responsibility as possible over what they have done by laying off people", Employment Minister Jari Lindstrom explained in a statement. They succeeded until now because they were the only place to turn. Since buying the company Microsoft has failed to compete with Google's Android and Apple iPhones, with a current total market share of less than 1 percent.

Source: Microsoft cuts 1850 jobs in its smartphone unit