Microsoft and Nokia finallise mobile phone unit deal

Microsoft has completed its purchase of Nokia's mobile phone business for 5.44bn euros ($7.5bn; £4.5bn).

The deal between the two firms should have been completed earlier this year but it was delayed by a hold-up in regulatory approvals.

The sale will see the end of production of mobile phones by Nokia.

"Today we welcome the Nokia devices and services business to our family," said Microsoft chief executive Satya Nadella.

"The mobile capabilities and assets they bring will advance our transformation."

The Finnish company will now focus on networks, mapping services and technology development and licences.

Two Nokia plants will remain outside the deal - a manufacturing unit in Chennai, India, subject to an asset freeze by Indian tax authorities, and the Masan plant in South Korea, which it plans to shut down.

Former Nokia chief executive Stephen Elop has become executive vice president of the Microsoft devices group, in charge of Lumia smartphones and tablets, Nokia mobile phones, Xbox hardware, Microsoft Surface, and Perceptive Pixel (PPI) products.

The Redmond giant has been tightlipped about the devices that are going to compete with rivals like the Apple iPhone 5S. The blog did say that owners of Nokia devices who contact Nokia about their phone through Facebook or Twitter will start communicating with Microsoft instead of Nokia 

The changeover probably won’t affect the manner in which users submit information or ask for help. Another thing worth mentioning is that Microsoft has temporary rights to use the Nokia name as part of the deal but it seems as if those rights will expire at some point in the future.

Microsoft will be responsible for 3 mobile operating systems. One is Windows Phone which is used on Nokia’s mid to high end phones. The other one is the one that powers its feature phone offerings in the S40 operating system and lastly there is Nokia X and Nokia XL which go on top of Google’s Android operating system which is a direct rival to Microsoft’s Windows Phone operating system.

We can be pretty sure that Microsoft will press ahead with Windows Phone on Nokia. Merging with Nokia will make the Windows Phone experience much more cohesive, much like how Apple does with its iPhone and iPad lineups. Microsoft is also giving out the Windows Phone operating system to hardware makers for free now, just like Google does with Android. This is a step away from the strategy it used previously on PC where hardware makers had to pay a licensing fee on every single device. Most companies that make smartphones are coming out with Windows Phone’s too.

We can expect Microsoft to release some high end phones over the next few months. These phones should be ones that can keep up with the best that Google, Samsung, and Apple are offering and they should also be available on multiple carriers across the United States as well.