Microsoft Cuts Nokia McLaren 3D Touch Phone Development In Company-Wide Shake-Up
Way off in some alternate reality, Microsoft is putting the finishing touches on its Nokia McLaren handset, a flagship phone equipped with 3D Touch technology. The company's marketing team is busy preparing advertisements that show off the Kinect-like gesture control you can pull off courtesy of the phone's many embedded sensor, and there's an air of excitement looming at Microsoft over the McLaren's impending launch. Unfortunately for the team that conceived and built such a device, we live in this reality, the same one that just saw Microsoft chief Satya Nadella announce the biggest round of layoffs in company history, and there's just no place for the McLaren at this time.
That's a kick in the pants when you're already down, but the reality is that the Microsoft of today (and tomorrow) isn't as interested in and reliant on handsets as Nokia was, which is, in part, why around 12,500 of the planned 18,000 job cuts will affect Microsoft's Nokia division.
The Nokia McLaren was said to look like a Lumia 1020, but with several sensors for 3D Touch technology.
"It is particularly important to recognize that the role of phones within Microsoft is different than it was within Nokia. Whereas the hardware business of phones within Nokia was an end unto itself, within Microsoft all our devices are intended to embody the finest of Microsoft's digital work and digital life experiences, while accruing value to Microsoft's overall strategy," explained Stephen Elop, Executive Vice President for Microsoft's Devices and Services business unit and former Nokia CEO.
According to Tech Times, Microsoft actually decided to nix the McLaren weeks ago. Several reasons led to the decision, chief among them the high cost, but Microsoft was also soured by how developers reacted to early test builds. It seems Microsoft just wasn't confident in the product.
That's a kick in the pants when you're already down, but the reality is that the Microsoft of today (and tomorrow) isn't as interested in and reliant on handsets as Nokia was, which is, in part, why around 12,500 of the planned 18,000 job cuts will affect Microsoft's Nokia division.
The Nokia McLaren was said to look like a Lumia 1020, but with several sensors for 3D Touch technology.
"It is particularly important to recognize that the role of phones within Microsoft is different than it was within Nokia. Whereas the hardware business of phones within Nokia was an end unto itself, within Microsoft all our devices are intended to embody the finest of Microsoft's digital work and digital life experiences, while accruing value to Microsoft's overall strategy," explained Stephen Elop, Executive Vice President for Microsoft's Devices and Services business unit and former Nokia CEO.
According to Tech Times, Microsoft actually decided to nix the McLaren weeks ago. Several reasons led to the decision, chief among them the high cost, but Microsoft was also soured by how developers reacted to early test builds. It seems Microsoft just wasn't confident in the product.
