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Reflections on the Microsoft acquisition of Nokia

I used to work at Motorola’s cell phone division, as a software engineer. It was before Google purchased them. During that time, the biggest competitor was Nokia. Samsung was really not in the running back then. Here’s a couple articles announcing Microsoft acquisition of Nokia.

SYJ: Nokia
SYJ: Nokia (Photo credit: bfishadow)

If you read the BBC article, Samsung holds a 24.7% market share, with Nokia having 14% and Apple 7.3%. As one  of the BBC commentators said in part, “In truth there is not so much difference between the top few phones.”

In an article entitled In The Smartphone Wars It’s iOS Vs. Android And Windows Phone Vs. The Rest In The Smartphone Wars It’s iOS Vs. Android And Windows Phone Vs. The Rest, it mentioned this: “However, given what IDC revealed today, we can essentially view the market as a three-way war, but not one in which Windows Phone has even begun to challenge the incumbents.” Since this article came out in August 2013, I wonder how much inroad Windows phones are making?

The article also makes this summation: “So a simple way of viewing the smartphone market is that Android is consistently adding friction to Apple’s products, which are seeing their market share fall as the market itself expands more quickly than they ship. And that Windows Phone, while still a distant third place player, has managed to functionally cement itself as a player in mobile.”
The BBC article says this:

“Critics say the firm has been too slow to respond to the booming market for mobile devices. It launched its Surface tablet PCs last year, but sales of the devices have been relatively slow.”

“Analysts said that the company wanted to make sure that it got its strategy right in the mobile phone market.”

Apple Inc. New Headquarters
Apple Inc. New Headquarters (Photo credit: MarkGregory007)

I’m a guy who runs dual Windows 7/Ubuntu machines. I’m also one who refuses to go Apple, until you get an Apple Store less than ten miles from where I live. In fact, they better have a store in the same city I live in. So I gravitate to Android devices.

Patent stuff

When Google first brought Motorola Mobility, articles speculated that a key factor was Motorola’s large patent inventory. Did Google use any of that patent inventory against Samsung? Don’t know. But I’m sure that Nokia has a large patent inventory, which Microsoft can use again either Samsung or Google. I just wonder if they will leverage it?

The smart watch

Then Samsung is busy developing a smart watch, according to a news report I watched. The commentators were wondering if folks would want it. An article came out entitled How Smart Can a Watch Really Be?. As the article mentioned, “Today, Samsung introduced the Galaxy Gear, a three-hundred-dollar smartwatch the company hopes will change all that.” They also say this: “So there remains a strange undercurrent of hope that somebody—Apple—will figure out, soon, some grander vision for wearable technology, transforming it from something that people have vaguely imagined into something people intensely desire.”

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