Microsoft hopes: Nokia will bring 6 new devices

The Nokia mobile phone business will provide a useful complement to the hardware business that has become a major plank in Microsoft, according to a commentary published in Sunday in the US Wall Street Journal's online edition, "Nokia Hope Breeding" (Hopenhagen Springs at Nokia). Nokia's upcoming launch of a series of new products will show Microsoft's glimmer of hope. Stephen Elop, the former Nokia CEO, Elop the full story: the launch of the new Elop (Stephen Elop), which he will unveil in Abu Dhabi in Tuesday, includes the first Tablet PC and the giant screen handset of Nokia 6. The plan will crash with Apple's new ipad release time. While it is hard to stir up a new product at such times, Elop can take the opportunity to show Microsoft's glimmer of hope-the one-month-old $7 billion purchase of Nokia's mobile phone division. Microsoft has not been able to fully crack the device manufacturing business, which means that Elop's new product is far more important to Microsoft than Nokia. The latter once dominated the global handset market, but is now gradually turning its energies elsewhere. Elop has been keeping a low profile recently, with Microsoft paying most of the $25 million in compensation for his outgoing CEO, but the money has been criticized by many media and Finnish officials-even the Finnish prime minister. Although he slashed costs during his tenure and embarked on a historic restructuring, the main focus was on financial losses and falling share prices. Succession plan The 49-Year-old has become one of the few candidates to take over the helm of Ballmer in the next few months, mainly because the board believes he can make a contribution to Microsoft in a critical historical moment, according to people familiar with the matter. As a veteran software company, Microsoft's recent failures in the hardware sector have led to doubts that it will be hard to keep alive in the future. Elop was a senior Microsoft executive and moved to Nokia as CEO in 2010. His move was a surprise to many Microsoft executives and board members, who thought Nokia was on the brink. But after Microsoft announced the takeover of Nokia, he stepped down in September this year and will be back at Microsoft after the deal to become head of the company's terminal equipment business. The deal is expected to be completed in the first quarter of next year. According to people familiar with the matter, Elop has recently rushed to meet with a number of mainland employees and met with members of the board. But the ability to lead Microsoft to success depends on whether he can end the technical drag and marketing mistakes that Windows Phone encounters. Microsoft CEO Alain Murali, including Ford CEO Alan Mulally, has many notable personalities. But Elop has decades of experience in the technology industry. Microsoft spokeswoman refuses to comment on CEO selection processOn。 Good results Nokia and Microsoft need to change their fortunes. The partnership has not worked, and while Nokia is the world's largest windows Phone handset maker, its share of the smart device market is negligible, far below Apple and Samsung Electronics. The two companies have far more marketing spending than Nokia, and the operating system is more popular than Windows Phone. The key message from Elop has become a major driver of Microsoft's development. People familiar with the matter said the Nokia Lumia series handsets, which carry the Windows Phone system, have been on the fourth consecutive quarter year-on-year and quarter-on-quarter growth. Between June and September, the company sold at least 8 million Lumia handsets, up from 7.4 million in the second quarter, and doubled over the same period last year. Nokia will release its third-quarter results on October 29. A spokesman for the company declined to comment on the results. To the disappointment of Microsoft's board, the company has not made a profit by selling mobile devices that carry windows, and companies such as Samsung and Apple have a greater incentive to promote hardware products because of their hardware business. Microsoft executives and directors have been hesitant to aggressively promote Windows Phone, because hardware makers such as Nokia are the biggest beneficiaries of increased handset sales. Becoming a company with both hardware and software, like Apple, is critical to winning board support. For Nokia, according to IDC and Gartner, a market-research firm, PC sales fell 18% per cent year-on-year in the third quarter, while PC shipments were expected to fall for the first time in 11 years. Microsoft and its allies hope to win the favor of consumers through the new windows and the corresponding next generation of hardware. Improved technology Nokia's long experience in equipment manufacturing and its leadership in the mobile device market may meet Microsoft's needs. Elop and the existing Nokia executive team have begun to plan new strategies and are likely to be further clarified when new equipment is announced in Tuesday. Unlike the poorly sold surface tablet, Nokia's first tablet will use LTE technology to achieve better Internet access and possibly help it compete better with the ipad. LTE is likely to enhance the attractiveness of this development-code-named "Sirius" (Sirius) product to corporate users. Microsoft has said surface will be carrying LTE technology early next year. Nokia is ready to release tablets and giant-screen handsets, but waits for Microsoft to update the system, including the ability to make better use of the Outlook mail program via a tablet computer. After a series of blunders, Microsoft has made hardware the top priority. In the fiscal year ending June 30, the company's surface tablet generated $853 million trillion, but it lost 900 million of billions of dollars due to the surface RT price cut. The company had previouslyLaunched mobile hardware devices such as mobile phones and MP3 players, but ended up failing. (Ding Macro)