mobile – but what else is left to Microsoft? – ZDNet France

No doubt, the mobile phone is exclusively a cost center for Microsoft, and for the final results almost zero: sales of smartphones and anecdotal market share for Windows 0.7% on smartphones <. br />

And the bill still weighs a little more. The Redmond company announced in effect that it will remove 1,850 jobs in the division responsible for the production of mobile phones. These activities are reduced to a trickle.

Another $ 1 billion to settle

Recently, Microsoft has formalized the sale of the manufacturing feature-phone. In this context, it is 4500 employees who will leave its term workforce. Of the announced layoffs in 1850, 1350 will affect employees in Finland.

After paying billions of dollars to acquire the assets of Nokia in the mobile, Microsoft continues to pay the bill. The new job cuts will cost it $ 200 million. But the firm must also record an asset impairment. In total, for the giant, the bill amounts to $ 950 million.

Recall that in July 2015, Microsoft had already had to record an impairment charge of approximately $ 7.6 billion. A very high amount, higher even Nokia’s purchase price ($ 7.2 billion). It was also necessary to add 750-850000000 dollars in restructuring costs.

However, once digested these new costs, Microsoft has finally ended with mobile, is not it? The response is apparently not. The Redmond company does not officially threw in the towel.

“We are reducing, but we do not go”

In an email sent to employees by the head of the division, Terry Myerson, Microsoft wants to move forward and be more “focused”, to the most interested companies security, administration and Continuum. The speech is however not new.

“We will continue to update and support our existing Lumia phones and those of our OEM partners, and develop great new terminals” still written Terry Myerson. We reduce, but we do not go out of the market, he says.

But if Microsoft remains in the mobile world, it is almost only through its software and services. “Our company will be pragmatic and adopt other mobile platforms with our productivity services, our administrative services and terminal development tools” also stresses the senior manager.

In fact, the trade Microsoft is the software. “The software will shape the terminals” declared in 2014 to remain the CEO of publisher, Satya Nadella, taking his duties. Since 2014, the giant has eliminated nearly 28,000 jobs, mainly in telephony. By including the sale of feature-phones, more than 30,000 employees who left the company

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