Microsoft buys Nokia's devices unit for $7.2 billion
Microsoft's official announcement[*]Microsoft to acquire Nokia's handset business for $7.2 billion Reuters(Tue 12:12AM EDT)[*]Microsoft to Buy Nokia Cellphone Business at The Wall Street Journal(Tue 12:12AM EDT)[*]Microsoft buying Nokia's devices and services unit AP(Tue 12:11AM EDT)[*]Microsoft Wants to Keep Licensing Windows Phone to Others Post-Nokia Dealat AllThingsD(Tue 12:02AM EDT)
Bloomberg reports
The Verge reports
TheNextWeb reports 有請馬㞗用不用多講5 Forces分析下流動電話巿場。:lol: Microsoft and Nokia: Manufacture the Future[*]BY LAWRENCE I LERNER, LERNER CONSULTING[*]09.04.13[*]1:27 PM
https://www.evernote.com/shard/s85/res/bd5967a6-a735-42ee-824a-207fbfdd6aef.jpg?resizeSmall&width=782Look out iPhone? Is Microsoft now set for leadership in ecosystem, hardware and price? Image: vernieman/Flickr
In “Rise of the 2nd Mobile App War”, Forrester Analyst Tyler Shields writes “Phones don’t sell phones … applications sell phones…”Applications are a good start but to achieve primacy, you need to work more broadly. Yesterday Microsoft took a step in that direction by finally acquiring long time partner Nokia’s handset business.
Reasons for the acquisition have lead to speculation of whether Microsoft intends to live up to its “Devices and Services” moniker.It creates questions about the real reasons behind the 2010 departure of Stephen Elop, who went on to become Nokia’s CEO and now returns to Microsoft.Speculation and conspiracy theories aside, to achieve one of the three top spots (by market share) in the white-hot mobile market, three elements must come together
[*]Ecosystem[*]Hardware[*]PriceThese three principles (in order) make up the drivers for a smartphone to come.The ecosystem is paramount.Historically Nokia had demonstrated a strong ecosystem.An ecosystem is the ability to work with partners, create an app market (Nokia’s Ovi opened a year before Apple’s) provide third party services (e.g., games) and finally customers.
(Uncover) What Assets is Microsoft Buying?
Companies are generally acquired for one of two things. Their management team or valuable assets the company holds.There are differences of opinion as to how value tangible (e.g., manufacturing plants) vs. intangible (e.g., reputation).The asset list comprises a list as diverse as clients, brand, Intellectual Property (patents, licenses, copyrights) or physical assets such as storefronts.It could be all of the above.
For Microsoft, becoming a hardware manufacturer means better margins on per device sold basis.What is clear is that the assets have some unambiguous value that is recognized by the market. Market opinion of an acquisition is generally reflected in stock price. At the end of trading on the day the acquisition was announced their stock price was down 4.55%.
Three things acquired
[*]Market Share – This is often confused with sales.Today there are close to 6.8 billion mobile subscribers.Many of those subscribers, particularly outside the US, hold on to phones for as long as 60 months. That number is key because Nokia held 53% of the world’s handset (basic, feature and smartphone) up to 2012 when they lost to Samsung.That’s still a large share of people who have Nokia products and a potential upgrade in their hands.[*]Innovation – The ridiculously good optics and camera resolution (41 mega-pixels!!!) of Nokia’s flagship phone is the latest in a long line of successful hardware.Nokia phones are known for exceptional battery life as well as form and function.The engineers at Nokia have demonstrated they understand the market.[*]Brand – That market share was partially driven by the belief that Nokia made products consumers wanted, particularly outside the US. The addition of a simple LED flashlight or “torch” on Nokia phones in India drove market share (How Did Nokia Succeed in the Indian Mobile Market, While Its Rivals Got Hung Up?).They demonstrated savvy in multiple and different consumer markets.Of note is a key asset left on the table. Microsoft leaves behind Navteq, the mapping and location service that powers marquee GPS and mapping services including Yahoo, Samsung, Mapquest, T-Mobile and many more.Microsoft has licensed Nokia’s HERE technology but owning it would have been a coup.Navteq’s marquee list of clients also includes top automakers with increasingly rich embedded systems.This would have provided Microsoft the trifecta of Bing/Foursquare/HERE, taking in-car and location based systems to a new level.
(Examine) What Does it Mean for Microsoft?
The assets acquired begin to round out our three principles for smartphone dominance.Nokia and Microsoft have an ecosystem of customers, partners and developers. The innovative hardware set and the minds, patents and processes that created can focus on the next generation.The ecosystem is rich but now the Devices and Services giant needs to nurture it in a way both companies have failed to do in the past few years.
The hardware continues to speak for itself and with $56 billion left in the bank; Microsoft can invest in innovation for a few centuries to come.
The money used to acquire the handset business all came from non-U.S. Microsoft funds. This financially favorable for the company (Microsoft is funding its Nokia acquisition with cash it kept from the taxman) and is presumably part of the strategy for our third principle: keeping the price competitive with the likes of Samsung, Apple and others is key.
(Prepare) Follow the Market or Make the Market?
Microsoft is now set for leadership in ecosystem, hardware and price.The next step is the defining moment for the unnamed CEO, who has one question to answer: Does Microsoft focus its energies making the next killer phone and play follow the leader or is there another option?
Increasing its smartphone share would be a good thing, but is that big-picture relevant?Microsoft is engaging in another senseless war just like the one they are fighting over Operating Systems (Microsoft A.B. (After Ballmer), Nokia Deal: Don’t Fight the Future). Winning in either case will not be a true game changer for them.For smartphones, it will only prove that they could spend billions of dollars to carve out a place and continue bad habits. People will point to the iPhone and speak of the profits.The ultimate value is in app stores, which powers tablets, phones and devices to come.
The innovation and ecosystem acquired from Nokia could be used to build first generation of Microsoft’s own Internet of Things (IoT).
Today, there is no single definition for IoT (also called M2M or Machine to Machine) either by standards bodies or industry bodies with leaders such as Microsoft, IBM, Cisco, Dell or others. With both hardware and software (Devices and Services) Microsoft could simply define the industry.
Both “Internet” and “Things” are used in a very broad way. In this instance Internet is extended to include communications protocols beyond the traditional Internet Protocol that we generally think about for networked devices. Communications within the IoT ecosystem also includes traditional radio, Bluetooth, RFID and more.
The “Things” in an IoT ecosystem are very diverse but have two common attributes. They can communicate with other Things and must have a unique identifier. The capabilities or feature sets of things or machines vary widely (but fall into a few categories) as do the services they consume.
Today smartphones are the multipurpose thing to have.With $56 billion left in the bank, Microsoft could go big into IoT market. Coupled with extensive cloud services they potentially become the market maker for devices in the IoT (Tools, Sensors, Broadcasting, Caching, Router) (Jailbreaking the Internet: The Shape of Things to Come).
(Satisfy) What Does the Customer Want?
Value.End consumers and business users want devices that match their needs in a time and place at a reasonable price. Smartphones and other devices continue to evolve to fulfill that.People become loyal to an ecosystem which, for device manufactures is a called a “platform.” Once on a platform, it becomes harder to change since you are invested in the services and features it provides. The market will look to see what value is harvested and extended from this acquisition.Just because Microsoft bought a handset company, doesn’t mean they become one.
While the purchase is today’s headline news, in the big picture it’s buried in the Business section.Microsoft is at a crossroads but unlike many companies, their vast resources open opportunities for growth and transformation.How the incumbent and incoming leadership engineer opportunity out of this change will define the company for the next generation.
What are your thoughts? Excellence acquisition or #EPICFAIL?
Lawrence I Lerner, President of LERNER Consulting, is a globally recognized digital strategy and change management expert. Follow him on Twitter at @RevInnovator.
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