According to analysts at respected wealth management company MDK Global Advisors, Microsoft today confirmed that it had completed its acquisition of Nokia's devices business.

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PRESS RELEASE
TAIPEI, TAIWAN | 25 APRIL 2014
MDK GLOBAL ADVISORS REPORTS ON MICROSOFT'S $7.2 BILLION NOKIA
ACQUISITION CLOSES
According to analysts at respected wealth management company MDK Global Advisors, Microsoft today confirmed that it had
completed its acquisition of Nokia's devices business.
“As of today, Nokia's phone and tablet business will operate as a Microsoft division called the Devices Group. Former Nokia CEO,
Stephen Elop with head-up the division as its executive vice president,” reported Su Tai, Research Director at MDK Global
Advisors.
“In September of last year, Microsoft revealed it was purchasing Nokia for $7.2 billion, but the acquisition took several months
to go through all the necessary regulatory paperwork before it was finalised today,” she added.
Nokia was Windows Phones' biggest seller and was pretty much the only company that took the product seriously. Some
vendors like Samsung and HTC have sought to make Windows Phones, but mainly they are duds, however, Samsung is
rumoured to have a new Windows Phone being released soon.
Nokia was once the world's largest smartphone manufacturer but was unable to transition to the new generation of phones that
came along with the 2007 introduction of the first iPhone. Android phones ultimately dominated the global mobile market, but
Nokia decided to use the Windows Phone platform on their top-tier models.
Former CEO of Microsoft, Steve Ballmer, was the Nokia deal's biggest supporter. Ballmer had a yelling match over the contract
with Microsoft's management, according to Businessweek. He wanted to purchase Nokia as a whole with its mapping business.
The board hadn't wanted any of this. Finally, they settled on only purchasing the devices business from Nokia, which
manufactures smartphones and tablets. Now Microsoft licenses the mapping service of Nokia. The Businessweek article
intimated that Ballmer's decision to retire sooner than planned was triggered by tensions over the Nokia deal.
In February, before it was finally part of Microsoft, Nokia launched a new range of inexpensive Android smartphones called
Nokia X. These phones use a heavily modified version of Android and do not include Google services like the Play Store for apps
and other digital content. Instead, Nokia made its own store which offered a lot of other Microsoft services like Skype and Bing
search.
But at the time it was pretty clear that Microsoft was not best pleased Nokia when they decided to make an Android phone at a
time when it was about to join Microsoft, which is all about Windows Phone. Compared with iPhone and Android, Windows
Phone only has a meagre market share, from 3 per cent to 5 per cent globally depending on who you ask. Android has a
worldwide mobile share of around 80 per cent.
“Microsoft is trying to improve its market share by making it easier for manufacturers to make Windows Phones. It gives away
the software essentially for free and redesigned it to run on very cheap hardware that's attractive in emerging markets like
Asia,” reported an Executive Research at MDK Global Advisors.
In the meantime, Microsoft has also released the new version of Windows Phone, version 8.1, which has many apps that
complement what Android and iPhone users have experienced for years, including a digital assistant named Cortana.
© MDK Global Advisors