So, it looks like Ballmer is going to get one last vicious boot in the face to Microsoft before he heads out the door; he's cutting a $7.2 million check out of the company coffers for Nokia's Device and Services division, which includes their smartphone unit, and, apparently former (and new!) Microsoft exec Stephen Elop, who had departed on his secret undercover mission to Nokia lo on these three years past.
As usual, the Ballmerisms related to this most recent acquisition, as with those of Skype, and, oh, gosh, everything before it, are laced with meaningless hyperbole... "bold-step into the future" and "win-win" for everyone. I was trying to think of a suitable anti-metaphor for chocolate and peanut butter but someone on Twitter beat me to it by comparing it to the HP acquisition of Palm. Nailed it in one.
There are vast numbers of things about the deal that make perfect sense in the bubble-world that Ballmer has created over there in Redmond, and indeed, it's not nearly as crazy (if considerably more expensive) than the Skype purchase. But neither Nokia nor Microsoft have been able to compete successfully in their respectively preferred mobile markets, despite an existing partnership, and what they each were lacking are not things that are going to be provided by this even deeper association.
Moreover, considering Ballmer's impending departure, it seems like a classically manipulative move designed to impede the next CEO's chances to recover Microsoft's standing from a fresh slate. The deal is big enough that it's going to tie the new CEO (who may well be Stephen Elop, who may not object in the slightest to being so saddled) to this particular course of action in mobile strategy for years to come. It severely hinders any genuine innovation that may otherwise have emerged from the shake-up of switching CEOs.
Microsoft stockholders, down 5% on the day so far, may be reasonably surprised that their long-time bane has been able to strike at them apparently from beyond the grave. Zombie Ballmer needs brains!
As usual, the Ballmerisms related to this most recent acquisition, as with those of Skype, and, oh, gosh, everything before it, are laced with meaningless hyperbole... "bold-step into the future" and "win-win" for everyone. I was trying to think of a suitable anti-metaphor for chocolate and peanut butter but someone on Twitter beat me to it by comparing it to the HP acquisition of Palm. Nailed it in one.
There are vast numbers of things about the deal that make perfect sense in the bubble-world that Ballmer has created over there in Redmond, and indeed, it's not nearly as crazy (if considerably more expensive) than the Skype purchase. But neither Nokia nor Microsoft have been able to compete successfully in their respectively preferred mobile markets, despite an existing partnership, and what they each were lacking are not things that are going to be provided by this even deeper association.
Moreover, considering Ballmer's impending departure, it seems like a classically manipulative move designed to impede the next CEO's chances to recover Microsoft's standing from a fresh slate. The deal is big enough that it's going to tie the new CEO (who may well be Stephen Elop, who may not object in the slightest to being so saddled) to this particular course of action in mobile strategy for years to come. It severely hinders any genuine innovation that may otherwise have emerged from the shake-up of switching CEOs.
Microsoft stockholders, down 5% on the day so far, may be reasonably surprised that their long-time bane has been able to strike at them apparently from beyond the grave. Zombie Ballmer needs brains!
