Microsoft has dragged its mobile phone business for long enough with poor results, so the company is reportedly letting go of manufacturing feature phones.
Microsoft and Nokia struck a deal in 2014 and the terms of acquisition read that the Windows developer owns full rights for the Nokia brand for smartphones until 2024. Now, Microsoft looks into licensing the Nokia brand to Foxconn.
The decision purportedly comes due to the unexpected bleak results for the first quarter of 2016, when Microsoft managed to sell a mere 15 million handsets.
The [translated] report from VTech claims that the company aims to discontinue the Microsoft Mobile business, which fans know as the department behind the building of Lumia handsets. The Lumia smartphone business will reportely joi the Surface line. This sounds as bad as it seems for Microsoft's employees, a part of which expect to get the boot during the restructuring. About 50 percent of the Microsoft Mobile members will be looking for new jobs, the report notes.
The rest of them are likely to join the Surface team, and rumors already permeated the media about a possible Surface Phone in tow. For one thing, Microsoft owns the site www.surfacephone.com. For another, the company is aware that the handset market is consistent and diverse, with developing countries being a gold mine for affordable smartphone manufacturers.
Since Microsoft took over Nokia's phone division and turned it into Microsoft Mobile in 2014, 18,000 employees lost their jobs. Should the information from VTech hold true, the figure will increase.
The rumor should be taken with a grain of salt, albeit the background of the decision is solid. For some time now, Microsoft has changed its focus from the consumer segment to the business and enterprise area, pushing the Windows Mobile delivery towards ventures more than individual clients.
When comparing the earnings from Windows Phone commerce with the revenue gained from licensing Android patents, the latter clearly comes on top. This would back the venture's decision to focus on making money out of software, although the Surface Pro tablet was highly commended by experts and users alike.
Would you consider purchasing a Nokia phone that is being crafted by Foxconn? Let us know in the comments section below.
