Microsoft Nokia Deal OKed By DOJ
There are a mighty number of hurdles a set of companies must go over before they join forces and become one in the United States, especially when they're such titans as Microsoft and Nokia. What's been approved today by the folks at the United States Department of Justice is the pending acquisition of Nokia's mobile devices and services business by Microsoft.
This approval is the next in a line of approvals that must be met, the next being a thumbs-up by the European Union. It's been suggested by Reuters that the European Comission would have their decision on the desk by December 4th – just two days from the time this article is published. At this point the USA, Russia, Turkey, Israel, and India have given their full consent for the deal to go down.
You'll find one massive number of names that the folks at Microsoft are having to roll through in the official DOJ PDF listing including Symbian Ltd, Nokia Chile, Nokia International Oy, Nokia Mexico SA de CV, Nokia Ireland Limited, and more. This represents the dissolving of these names while Microsoft will accept control of Nokia's devices and services arms the world over.
Microsoft has been clear that they'll be moving forward with the Windows Phone 8 universe with the likes of Windows Phone 8.1 (codename Blue) and will quite likely usher in a new era of transition in early 2015. This new era will consist of cross-device connections on the Windows 8 platform, Xbox One, and Windows Phone 8. This next-generation move is currently codenamed Threshold.
We've seen Nokia continue to roll out the smartphones and a single tablet while their best-selling device over the past year has been, believe it or not, the low-cost Nokia Lumia 520. This device rolls out across the planet with a relative low cost and high-value proposition that's selling out the rest of their smartphones by a rather large margin. We'll see soon enough if Microsoft will push them to continue the creation of low-end models or if they'll concentrate on the higher-end through the future!
VIA: ZDNet