As we all expected, Nokia shareholders have okay-ed a deal allowing Microsoft to buy the Finnish smartphone maker’s Devices and Services division. According to Financial Times an overwhelming 99.7 percent of shareholders who participated in the vote accorded with the Microsoft sale. Some shareholders were understandably upset over the sale of a Finnish national icon, but that hasn’t stopped the majority from approving a deal worth around $7.2 billion. The acquisition will see former Nokia CEO Stephen Elop return to Microsoft early next year to run an expanded devices and services team at the software giant.
Currently the Microsoft-Nokia integration plans are un-known, especially with the and Asha line of phones produced for the merging. Ballmer admitted Microsoft and Nokia could do better as one company on naming conventions; he said recently that an efficiency of being one company” is Microsoft will be able to avoid names such as “the Nokia Lumia Windows Phone 1020.”
According to rumors, the former Nokia CEO is reportedly part of the future Microsoft CEO shortlist, alongside Ford CEO Alan Mulally, Microsoft cloud boss Satya Nadella, and former Skype president Tony Bates.
The question on everyone’s mind is ‘What happens to Nokia now that it is under the Microsoft umbrella?’
