Microsoft Buys Nokia's Phones Division

I’m very late to the party, and I’m probably the worst analyst ever, but this doesn’t sound like a good deal… for the consumers.

Microsoft is really, really good at making software to work on other’s hardware. Yes, the Xbox 360 has been a success, but only after the original Xbox’s utter failure and several months, if not years, of losses. But the Zune, the Courrier, the Surface and a few others have all been failures.

And yes, buying Nokia’s phones division means they will get the capacity to make good hardware, or as good as Nokia ever made smartphone, although bad leaders can ruin a good functioning business.

Also, it’s a kick in the butt for the (very few) other Windows Phone makers. Microsoft swears it will continue to work with manufacturers, but it’s already very hard for them to follow Microsoft when it fails to gain any market traction…

All in all, I’m afraid this doesn’t bode well for the whole Windows Phone market and although the future Nokia phones will probably be really, really good and well-integrated, this just isn’t enough to change things. And now there is no chance to ever see a Nokia smartphone run anything else than Windows Phone, and that’s a shame.