If you’re located in the Nordic region I think it’s impossible it hasn’t popped on your social media already, but Microsoft has bought Nokia’s devices and services unit for $7.2 billion. Just like it sounds, Nokia the phone manufacturer’s days are limited, by the end of 2015 they can no longer sell phones under their own name.
Browsing through Twitter this morning has been an entertaining experience, with Finland’s entrepreneurs showing amazement in Steven Elop being the ultimate trojan horse, accomplishing exactly what many suspected from the start. After the acquisition closes, he is expected to lead the devices unit at Microsoft.
The reaction to the acquisition price has drawn some comparing the legacy of Nokia to just over seven Instagrams, which is somewhat mind boggling. Estonia’s entrepreneurs have a fair point that Microsoft paid more for Skype than they did for Nokia, which Startup Wise Guys‘ Sven Grundberg points out:
Wow, Microsoft paid less for Nokia's devices than it paid for Skype back in 2011, $7.18B vs $8.5B. And Skype had some 1000 employees.
— Sven Grundberg (@svengrundberg) September 3, 2013
The endless “what should Nokia do” conversation was getting tired, so hopefully Jolla will have a good launch this December to give Finland’s hardware fanatics something new to talk about. Nokia has become almost a bigger a spectator sport than Hockey in Finland, so even though I’m sure we won’t hear the end of the deal, I’m glad we can move on. For Finland’s entrepreneurs I think Supercell CEO Ilkka Paananen summed it up well:
What an ending to Nokia's story. But,Finland needed this. Now let's all wake up and get to work. New opportunities are everywhere!
— Ilkka Paananen (@ipaananen) September 3, 2013
A question that remains for entrepreneurs in our region is how this changes the attractiveness of developing for the Windows Phone platform. Have any thoughts?
