Microsoft’s announcement that it plans to acquire Nokia’s devices and services businesses started what will undoubtedly be a crazy month with a bang. Microsoft will pay $7.2 billion for the two divisions and 10 years worth of patent licensing, and it will adopt a mobile strategy akin to Apple’s, where it will own the software and hardware experiences offered by its smartphones. The dust has now settled and industry watchers are offering varied perspectives on the deal. Analysts will be analyzing this acquisition for months to come, and as they do, Enders’ Benedict Evans offers two simple charts that help put Nokia’s fall from grace in perspective.
On the smartphone side of the equation, Nokia once owned 60% of the global market back in 2007. Now, its share is in the low single digits. The firm’s feature phone business drop-off is far less severe, however, but it hasn’t been nearly enough to keep Nokia in the black.
Two charts follow below, one showing mobile phone sales versus average selling prices for handsets back in the second quarter of 2007, and a second showing sales and ASPs in Q2 2013.
How the mighty have fallen, indeed.
As an aside, it’s pretty remarkable and quite saddening to see how BlackBerry has managed to sit almost completely still over the past six years, relative to the market, as the mobile phone industry exploded. Alas, it will all be over soon.
