Skip to main content

Microsoft: stop the feature phone, assets sold to FIH Mobile and HDM Global

Microsoft has confirmed the sale of the activities related to the production and sale of feature phones to FIH Mobile, subsidiary of Foxconn, and HDM Global for $ 350 million. The formalization of the news comes after the dissemination of the first rumors about it took place earlier this week.

Under the terms of the agreement, Microsoft acquires FIH Mobile Mobile Vietnam, or the structure of the Redmond home located in Vietnam and engaged in the production of feature phones. Approximately 4,500 employees will be transferred to Microsoft Mobile Vietnam to FIH Mobile and HDM Global, in accordance with local regulations.

Microsoft is now clear in pointing out that the decision to divest its entire assets linked to the production and sale of feature phones will have no effect on the activity of production and sales of smartphones. In this regard, the Redmond points out, Microsoft will continue to develop Windows 10 Mobile and support Lumia devices like Lumia 650, Lumia 950 and Lumia 950 XL and the device of OEM partners such as Acer, Alcatel, HP, Trinity and VAIO.

In the official press release does not explicitly refers to the sale of the brand "Nokia", affixed by Microsoft to feature phones, but the company implicitly confirms that this sale will take place to the extent that states:

Under the agreement, Microsoft will transfer all of its assets related to the feature phones, including brands, software and services, support services and other assets, customer contracts and the supply contracts, in compliance with local laws.

Among the brands, as mentioned, is also on the Nokia brand, which will continue to be clearly managed by the purchasing companies, limited to the feature phone industry. The finalization of the sale, subject to the usual approval process by the relevant authorities, is expected by the second half of 2016.

An assignment evidently motivated by the need to reduce costs due to a branch of activity no longer profitable for the Redmond, accomplices also the dynamics of a mobile market where feature phones are less and less space, replaced by low-cost smartphone. Microsoft had begun to carry on its activities in 2014, after the acquisition of the mobile division of Nokia and the right to use of the Finnish brand to market feature phones (not for smartphones).

For the moment, nothing changes formally into account the activities of production and sale of Windows Phone / Windows 10 Mobile Lumia line of smartphones, however, have been paused, waiting for a relaunch of which could take place significantly not before 2017 with the possible arrival of the above mentioned Surface Phone.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Max Q: Psyche(d)

In this issue: SpaceX launches NASA asteroid mission, news from Relativity Space and more. © 2023 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only. from TechCrunch https://ift.tt/h6Kjrde via IFTTT

Max Q: Anomalous

Hello and welcome back to Max Q! Last week wasn’t the most successful for spaceflight missions. We’ll get into that a bit more below. In this issue: First up, a botched launch from Virgin Orbit… …followed by one from ABL Space Systems News from Rocket Lab, World View and more Virgin Orbit’s botched launch highlights shaky financial future After Virgin Orbit’s launch failure last Monday, during which the mission experienced an  “anomaly” that prevented the rocket from reaching orbit, I went back over the company’s financials — and things aren’t looking good. For Virgin Orbit, this year has likely been completely turned on its head. The company was aiming for three launches this year, but everything will remain grounded until the cause of the anomaly has been identified and resolved. It’s unclear how long that will take, but likely at least three months. Add this delay to Virgin’s dwindling cash reserves and you have a foundation that’s suddenly much shakier than before. ...

What’s Stripe’s deal?

Welcome to  The Interchange ! If you received this in your inbox, thank you for signing up and your vote of confidence. If you’re reading this as a post on our site, sign up  here  so you can receive it directly in the future. Every week, I’ll take a look at the hottest fintech news of the previous week. This will include everything from funding rounds to trends to an analysis of a particular space to hot takes on a particular company or phenomenon. There’s a lot of fintech news out there and it’s my job to stay on top of it — and make sense of it — so you can stay in the know. —  Mary Ann Stripe eyes exit, reportedly tried raising at a lower valuation The big news in fintech this week revolved around payments giant Stripe . On January 26, my Equity Podcast co-host and overall amazingly talented reporter Natasha Mascarenhas and I teamed up to write about how Stripe had set a 12-month deadline for itself to go public, either through a direct listing or by pursuin...