Today, yet another chapter in communication technology begins. After many months and unimaginable dollar amounts, Microsoft is purchasing all, and I mean all, of Nokia’s devices and services.
By the time Microsoft pays for Nokia’s hardware and licensing, they will spend $7.2 billion in this acquisition. Now, Microsoft controls most of Nokia’s Lumia brand, the Asha brand, and Nokia X handsets and other feature phones. Microsoft will now be responsible for 200 million handsets and 25,000 jobs. And that’s just handsets. There isn’t yet a full plan on how to totally integrate the two. Nokia CEO Steven Elop will host a press conference Monday April 28 to address the matter.
Of course, both Microsoft and Nokia are excited about this merger. For many years, Microsoft has been the software king. Now, they can be the hardware king. If I were a Microsoft high ranking official, I’d be excited about that too. But what about people like you and me? Some people can take the optimistic road and say this will drive prices down while improving quality. I like to think that will happen. But can the opposite happen? I’ve read of mergers making things far worse. They’re closer to a monopoly. And if you have a monopoly, you can charge and do whatever you want and there’s nothing that can be done. That’s why I’m concerned about mergers like this. What’s your take on the Microsoft/Nokia merger?