After months of speculation about Nokia CEO Stephen Elop’s game plan for reviving Nokia, he dropped a bomb on Friday announcing the company’s “broad strategic” partnership with Microsoft. But not everyone is happy with the announcement, and thousands walked out of Nokia facilities in protest.
The majority of the employees that walked are reported to have worked on Nokia’s Symbian OS, an operating system in direct competition of Microsoft Phone 7.
The Nokia/Microsoft partnership could help drive the success of the WP7, which has thus far experienced difficulty competing against Google’s Android and Apple’s iOS.
The partnership would also allow Nokia to further strengthen its position in hardware with additional consumer appeal courtesy of Microsoft.
In a statement, the company said “As of April 1, Nokia will have a new company structure, which features two distinct business units: Smart Devices and Mobile Phones. They will focus on Nokia’s key business areas: high-end smartphones and mass-market mobile phones.”
Obviously, there’s little doubt that major cuts will be made at Nokia’s Symbian unit.
Although Nokia employees have a right and reason to be upset with the announcement, we’re not sure if walking out will help employees fearful of losing their jobs.
(Via Ubergizmo)
