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Phoenix666 [soylentnews.org] writes:

Microsoft is taking an ax to its smartphone business [businessinsider.com].

The American tech company is cutting nearly 2,000 jobs, it announced Wednesday [microsoft.com], including 1,350 from Finland as it ceases phone design and production in the country.

The Finland layoffs were reported earlier by the Finnish press [www.hs.fi]. After years of partnership, Microsoft acquired Nokia's smartphone business in 2014, giving it a presence in the country. Steve Ballmer, then Microsoft's CEO [bbc.co.uk], said before the acquisition that Finland would become the "hub and the centre for our phone R&D."

But Microsoft's phone business has struggled to eat into the market share of the major players Google and Apple, and Microsoft has since moved away from the Nokia brand, selling off its featurephone business earlier this month.

Microsoft...that name sounds familiar. Didn't they once play in the realm of videogame consoles...?

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