World Leading Internet Windows Giant (Microsoft) on
Thursday sacked 34 (85 per cent) of the 40 employees in the Nigerian office of
its phone division.
The sacking came
24 hours after the company’s latest Windows 10 was made available in Nigeria
and 189 other countries.
Although, Windows
10 is now available as a free upgrade for Windows 7 and 8.1 operating systems
or with new personal computers and tablets, industry experts said it would
leave about 15 million Nigerian payments cards prone to hacking.
Employees at the
Nigerian office were silent on the matter, but a source said that the
downsizing was part of the global decision of Microsoft to streamline its phone
division.
The source said
the sacking was in line with the massive layoff of workers “sweeping through
the global offices of Microsoft’s phone division.”
The Chief
Executive Officer, Microsoft, Satya Nadella, had said in a memo to all Nigerian
employees in late June that the company needed to make some “tough choices” in
areas that were not working.
The memo had
stated that 7,800 jobs would be cut from the mobile division working on Windows
Phone hardware.
The e-mail from
Nadella to all employees, which was made available to our correspondent, read,
“We are moving from a strategy to grow a standalone phone business to a
strategy to grow and create a vibrant Windows ecosystem, including our
first-party device family.
“In the
near-term, we’ll run a more effective and focused phone portfolio, while
retaining capability for long-term reinvention in mobility.
“Microsoft was
committed to our first-party devices, including phones, but needed to focus its
phone efforts in the near term.”
According to him,
the company will also write off $7.6bn from the acquisition of Nokia, despite
it only paying $7.2bn for the company in 2014.
“The future
prospects for the phone hardware segment were below original expectations due
to the new plans,” he added.
Nadella said that
the news would “surely leave an unclear future for Windows Phone.”
Although he said
that in the near future, the company would run a “more effective” phone
portfolio, he added, “But that doesn’t exactly throw the company’s weight
behind the platform.”
Nadella said that
the move would not give partners reassurance that the platform was a good choice
to build new hardware or apps for the future.
“Microsoft is
also pushing ahead to release Lumia flagships this year and is still actively
developing Windows 10 mobile,” he added.
