Murtazin: Microsoft is already pushing Nokia to cancel Sirius tablet, half of Asha touchscreen phones
Mobile Review’s Eldar Murtazin clarified a bit his yesterday’s Tweet about Microsoft Nokia deal hitting some snags.
The problem seems to be that with the deal struck, but still not closed, Microsoft is already acting as if they own the business. And is pushing Nokia to cancel a number of products that were scheduled to launch later this year. That Sirius Windows RT tablet, leaked last week, is among them, as are a whole bunch (about half) of budget Asha touchscreen phones.
There might also be disagreement about whether some core Nokia assets belong with Nokia, or the mobile unit that will move to Microsoft. Sadly, Pureview is not part of these negotiations.
Except for Windows RT tablet, it is strange to see Microsoft acting so aggressively before even Nokia shareholders have approved the deal. Microsoft was way more hands-off before they closed the Skype acquisition, and such an aggressive behavior with Nokia might backfire eventually.
On the other hand, Nokia is in a much worse situation today, and is already using $1.5 billion loan from Microsoft, which was a part of mobile business sale. So its easy to see how Microsoft people might feel they can be much more aggressive here.
