The heap of blunders that piled up at Microsoft under Steve Ballmer’s leadership may have hit a tipping point this year, leading to last month’s earthshaking announcement that Bill Gates’ former right-hand man and heir, as well as Microsoft’s fiercest cheerleader, will step down as CEO within a year.
Microsoft’s acquisition of Nokia was a defensive move to keep the Finnish phone maker from going under or falling into the hands of an Android-first rival, several analysts argued this week.
Microsoft wants to build a better mobile phone through its acquisition of Nokia’s mobile phone business. One way it hopes to do that? By improving its maps applications to better compete against Google’s.
“We must indeed all hang together or, most assuredly, we shall hang separately.” Benjamin Franklin reportedly said this during the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
Microsoft’s plan to buy Nokia’s phone business and have a larger presence in hardware devices has so far brought little response from PC and smartphone vendors in Asia. But the deal could end up bringing dividends to Microsoft’s long-time partners in the region by revitalizing the Windows ecosystem, according to analysts.
