It's hand-helds all the way

Microsoft announced three years ago that its future lies in a variety of hand-held devices. While the Surface tablet wasn’t able to make waves in the market, the Windows phone was projected as a game-changer for it.

In this regard, Nokia was the most important partner in the phone arena and has been on a good growth path with the Lumia and Asha series.

However, Nokia lacked the financial strength for greater penetration and distribution capability, and Microsoft has just the deep pockets needed to fill that void.

In India, too, Nokia is a strong brand with deep distribution as well as superior hardware and operating system.

But the challenge is to stay on course. The single biggest issue in this regard is that apps on the Windows phone are much fewer than on the more popular Android ecosystem, which Microsoft now has to work on for ensuring greater reach of its Windows phones.

It will be interesting to see if [Stephen] Elop becomes CEO, as being a former Microsoft executive and the CEO of Nokia, he has the right ingredients to lead the new entity.

As for a possible change in the brand name for Nokia-Windows phones, Nokia already has an established brand name. So, Microsoft may not want to ditch the Nokia branding.(As told to Beryl Menezes)

Ravi Venkatesan
Ex-chairman of Microsoft India