Nokia Devices & Services and Microsoft Deal Closes

We all knew it right from the time Symbian was sacked and Nokia was in a confusing state of how to move forward from there. For better or worse Stephen Elop the CEO of Nokia at that point in time chose to go with Microsoft’s Mobile Operating System the Windows Phone OS. If it had went towards the Android side, then there won’t be a Samsung now. If they have stayed with Symbian, who on earth will know what their stand might look like now. For better or worse, Symbian and Meego was sacked and Nokia went all-in with Windows Phone.

Right from that moment, we knew it might end up here. And today is that day. Its time, its done. Nokia Devices & Services and Microsoft deal is now complete and from Monday Nokia employes would be Microsoft employes. It might be a sad time for many loyal fans of Nokia, who’s first phone and the current phones are from Nokia. Whatever it is, its said and done and life has to move on Nokia loyalists. Nokia as in HERE and NSN will still be here. The brand itself is very much alive. Its just the devices and services part of Nokia is what ends today. But hey, for many Nokia devices is all what Nokia stands for.

You can read the official statements from the Nokia Conversations blog here and here.

And another interesting thing Stephen Elop said was

And we are committed to continuing our support for feature phones, the Asha family, and the Nokia X family of devices, announced at the Mobile World Congress in February.

Support is there for Nokia X, but will Nokia X still be sold? Will it still be available in the stores to buy? That we have to wait and see. And also on Monday, April 28 at 1PM GMT, Stephen Elop is doing a Reddit AMA. AMA should be interesting because you can expect all sort of questions from Symbian only lovers, Windows Phone only fans, Meego fans, fans of Nokia as general irrespective of the OS.

Asha, X and dumb phones will still retain Nokia’s brand name. But the smartphones might have the Lumia branding as in today, or Microsoft may change the name to something else. Life sure is a mystery.

So what do you think about this? If you’re a current Nokia owner, who will be the manufacturer of your next phone? Share your thoughts. Personally i will miss Nokia as a quality hardware manufacturer for the rest of my life 😦