donlucchese
JF-Expert Member
- Mar 23, 2011
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Microsoft Corp announced morebig cutsto its smartphone business on Wednesday, just two years after it bought handset maker Nokia in anill-fated attempt to take on market leaders Apple and Samsung.The U.S. company said it would shed up to 1,850 jobs, most of them in Finland, and write down $950 million from the business. It did not say how many employees currently work on smartphones in the group as a whole.
A Finnish union representative told Reuters the cuts would essentially put an end to Microsoft's development of new phones."My understanding is that Windows 10 will go on as an operating system, but there will be no more phones made by Microsoft," said Kalle Kiili, a shop steward.Microsoft said in a statement it would continue to develop the Windows 10 platform and support its Lumia smartphones, but gave no comment on whether it would develop new Windows phones.Microsoft bought Nokia's once-dominant handset business for about $7.2 billion in 2014, but failed to turn the business around and last year announced $7.5 billion of writedowns and 7,800 job cuts.Global market share of Windows smartphones fell below 1 percent in the first quarter of 2016, according to research firm Gartner.Earlier this month, Microsoft sold its entry-level featurephones business for $350 million.
Source: Microsoft Retreats in Smartphone Battle, 1,850 Jobs to Go
A Finnish union representative told Reuters the cuts would essentially put an end to Microsoft's development of new phones."My understanding is that Windows 10 will go on as an operating system, but there will be no more phones made by Microsoft," said Kalle Kiili, a shop steward.Microsoft said in a statement it would continue to develop the Windows 10 platform and support its Lumia smartphones, but gave no comment on whether it would develop new Windows phones.Microsoft bought Nokia's once-dominant handset business for about $7.2 billion in 2014, but failed to turn the business around and last year announced $7.5 billion of writedowns and 7,800 job cuts.Global market share of Windows smartphones fell below 1 percent in the first quarter of 2016, according to research firm Gartner.Earlier this month, Microsoft sold its entry-level featurephones business for $350 million.
Source: Microsoft Retreats in Smartphone Battle, 1,850 Jobs to Go
