Wednesday, May 25, 2016

Microsoft to axe 1850 jobs as smartphone business shrinks further

Microsoft has also issued a statement in which it promises to continue supporting Windows 10 laden mobile devices as well as its existing Lumia line up.

Employees at Microsoft Oy, a separate Microsoft sales subsidiary based in Espoo, Finland, would not be affected by the job cuts.

Today, Mr. Myerson wrote in an email to all employees: "our company will be pragmatic and embrace other mobile platforms with our productivity services, device management services, and development tools - regardless of a person's phone choice, we want everyone to be able to experience what Microsoft has to offer them".

The reductions are expected to be substantially complete by the end of the calendar year and fully completed by July 2017, the end of the company's next fiscal.

HELSINKI/SAN FRANCISCO Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) announced more big cuts to its smartphone business on Wednesday, just two years after it bought handset maker Nokia in an ill-fated attempt to take on market leaders Apple Inc (AAPL.O) and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd (005930.KS).

The company announced Wednesday it's cutting 1,850 jobs, with 1,350 coming from its Finnish operations, known as Microsoft Mobile Oy, and an additional 500 from other regions.

One week after it was revealed that Microsoft was selling its feature phone business, the company is making major changes to its smartphone division.

About 1,350 jobs will disappear in Finland, another blow to a nation already struggling to reduce unemployment and revive an economy hurt by Nokia's mobile-phone demise.

The company acquired Nokia's phone business in 2014, seeking to capitalize on and the fast-growing industry, but by last summer it was slashing the value of that business and it eliminated 26,000 jobs.

Microsoft launched two flagship Lumia devices toward the end of a year ago, both of which clearly have failed to gain any traction. Back then, there might have been a credible argument to be made that consumers actively wanted mobile devices with easy access to documents, files, information, and email, all based in the Windows ecosystem, and all available across a broad platform of devices.

While Microsoft's push into smartphones hasn't worked out as planned, the company continues to develop hardware such as its Surface tablet computers. Ballmer had faced significant resistance internally for his plan to acquire Nokia, and Nadella was initially against the move into smartphones.

The condition of Microsoft Mobile division and company's related to the same, Nokia are in a state of disarray.


Source: Microsoft to axe 1850 jobs as smartphone business shrinks further

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