Nokia Conversations sat down to speak with Nokia's EVP for sales and marketing, Chris Weber. Going into some detail about what changes are happening at Nokia since Microsoft announced the purchase. So if you've got a few burning questions on your mind about what's going to happen with the new partnership, be sure to head on past the break for some snippets.
Nokia's Chris Weber from a Windows Phone Central interview
Is Nokia as we know it today vanishing? Not at all. Weber explains that while Microsoft has put forward the deal to acquire Nokia's devices and services division, it won't be fully confirmed until 2014. From now until then, it's business as usual at the Finish manufacturer. "I can promise you, we have some fantastic stuff in the pipeline."
We've previously covered the deal in detail, including the part where the brains behind the design, manufacturing and support for Nokia Windows Phones would migrate to Microsoft. The Nokia brand as a whole isn't going anywhere either. It's worth noting that Microsoft has only purchased a part of the company. Location services, mapping, networking and more will remain part of Nokia.
A handful of bonuses the deal would bring were highlighted, should the team eventually move to Microsoft. These include the ability to better increase awareness and growth of Windows Phone as a platform, as well as Asha and feature hardware. Faster innovation would be possible with closer ties to Redmond and the full backing of the technology giant. It all sounds like a bright future.
An interesting part of the interview with Weber is how branding will be addressed. We've looked at unified branding recently, and how Microsoft would effectively own both "Lumia" and "Asha."
"Microsoft intends to buy the right to use the Nokia brand on its phones for ten years. There’s a commitment now that this will happen for the Asha and feature phones business going forward [...] On smartphones, it’s more complicated and we’ll be seeking to create a unified brand across Lumia and other Windows based devices. But we’re still a long way from when that decision has to be made."
How Nokia and Microsoft would work to unify the two branding would be interesting to see. Weber also included "other Windows based devices," meaning we could possibly see future products by other OEM partners included in the unified brand. Lumia branding is strong, as shown in previous reports, but the deal between the two companies has not yet been confirmed, so we can all begin speculating on what could happen.
Check out the full interview over on Nokia Conversations, using the link below.
Source: Nokia; thanks, Zeaneal, for the tip!
