SourceCode: Stephen Elop out of Microsoft as devices take a back seat

Knights of the Old Republic: Stephen Elop and Steve Ballmer discussing Nokia

By Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

Stephen Elop, the man largely responsible for making Nokia a suitable acquisition for Microsoft as part of its devices initiative, has left the building. A memo to Microsoft employees by CEO Satya Nadella announced the compression of various divisions within Microsoft, most notably the Windows and Devices Group (WDG) which merges Windows OS and mobile devices. Elop previously headed Devices but has now 'reitired' from Microsoft as Terry Myerson takes stewardship of the compounded division.

 “Stephen and I have agreed that now is the right time for him to retire from Microsoft,” Nadella explained in his memo. “I regret the loss of leadership that this represents, and look forward to seeing where his next destination will be.”

Elop is a longtime Microsoftie, one who led the company's profitable Business Division which had Microsoft Office and Microsoft Dynamics among others. Elop famously became head of Nokia where he urged a move away from Symbian as an OS, not to Android (which Nokia seemed inclined to go to) but to Microsoft's upstart Windows Phone OS.

Elop's 'Burning Platform' memo is a legendary artifact of tech history. This became the manifesto behind Nokia's quick move to Microsoft where it remained the leading handset maker until it was purchased for around US $ 7 billion, Elop reportedly earned a tidy sum of US $25 million to oversee the sale of the once proud Finnish phone giant to Redmond.

It is widely debated that Elop was the agent that prepped Nokia for acquisition. While it may not be fair to fault the CEO at the time for a company's decisions, Elop's reign saw massive retrenchment and the shutting down of various divisions within Nokia, until Microsoft stepped in to buy the phone division. 

Microsoft bought Nokia in 2013 and slowly dismantled various Nokia divisions and the branding and identity that Nokia built through time. Since then, there have been a handful of entry-level and mid-range smartphone releases, some software updates but really, little else to keep Microsoft mobile phone users hopeful. Case in point, there hasn't been a bona fide Lumia flagship handset since the Lumia 1020 came to market two years ago.

So Elop, along with many vestiges of the 'Old Microsoft' of Steve Ballmer. is gone and it looks as if Satya Nadella isn't done rearraging the company. The other divisions at Microsoft are Cloud and Enterprise as well as Application and Services group.

What effect will these changes will have on Windows Phone (or Windows Mobile)? Will this lead to Microsoft conceding its tiny share of the mobile handset market? These are all valid questions and concerns that I hope will be answered through time.

Source: Petri