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诺基亚CEO埃洛普与微软CEO鲍尔默。
微
软公司（Microsoft Corp.）知道，其与谷歌公司（Google Inc.）竞争与诺基亚公司（Nokia Corp.）结盟机会的争夺战对它的利害关系比谷歌大得多。败给谷歌可能会使微软在手机市场的机会遭受致命打击。因此，微软极力向这家芬兰手机巨头示好，向前微软高管、诺基亚的新老板提供数十亿美元的资金以及其他支持。经过近几个月一系列的全球性会议后，诺基亚也开始将微软视为最合适人选。
上周，诺基亚首席执行长埃洛普（Stephen Elop）做出了决定。他将诺基亚的未来押注在使用微软操作软件的智能手机上，让谷歌Android吃了闭门羹。
埃洛普称，最终，微软同意在签订的多年协议期间，向诺基亚支付数十亿美元的资金，帮助诺基亚推广和开发Windows Phone手机。谷歌的出价数目不得而知。
英特尔公司（Intel Corp.）首席执行长欧德宁（Paul Otellini）说，埃洛普选择了出价最高者。他说，在微软和谷歌之间，他获得了不可思议的条件和资金用于转型。
谷歌发言人拒绝置评。在本周举行的手机产业大会上，谷歌首席执行长施密特（Eric Schmidt）发表讲话时说，他原本希望诺基亚能选择Android，他说希望这家芬兰手机制造商在未来能选Android。
微软提供的诱人条件包括：它愿意在其产品中使用一个叫Navteq的地图服务，该服务由诺基亚多年前以81亿美元收购的一家公司提供。据知情人士说，相反，谷歌对自己的地图服务投入比微软多得多，它不怎么愿意用诺基亚的服务。
这位知情人士说，诺基亚还迫切希望赶在上周五在伦敦与投资者和分析师会面前与这两家公司之一达成协议，微软比对手抢先一步及时达成了协议。
诺基亚还将分享由Navteq支持的微软定位服务产生的广告收入，例如，用户在Windows Phone手机上搜索披萨时就会看到附近餐厅的广告。
埃洛普于去年9月离开微软加入诺基亚，在本周接受采访时他说，他在任职一个月后开始对公司的发展方向进行战略性评估，在继续开发诺基亚自己的软件和与微软或谷歌达成协议之间权衡。
埃洛普说，他是通过一位朋友经电子邮件与施密特结识的，埃洛普称这位朋友是科技界的“思想领袖或权威人士”。
他还致电他的前老板、微软首席执行长鲍尔默（Steve Ballmer），告诉他诺基亚已经开始评估其战略选择。
鲍尔默和微软高管在去年11月15日首次与埃洛普和诺基亚高管见面，地点在微软位于华盛顿州的总部。
接着在12月6日，他们又在纽约时报广场（Times Square）的W酒店会面，包括微软负责Windows Phone开发的副总裁梅尔森（Terry Myerson）和诺基亚智能手机业务高级副总裁哈洛（Jo Harlow）在内的高管必须在这里弄清楚一件事，那就是Window Phone系统到底能不能在诺基亚手机的基础芯片上正常运行。几周后，两家公司又在冰岛首都雷克雅未克再次进行技术会谈。
然后在1月中旬于伦敦一处沉闷地下室举行的一场会谈中，双方的谈判转向了商业和营销问题，会谈的参会者有微软移动通信部总裁李斯(Andy Lees)和诺基亚执行副总裁奥斯塔莫(Kai Oistamo)。
据一位知情人士说，这期间与微软的谈判几乎破裂。这位人士说，主要问题在于，诺基亚高管相信微软是在像对待任何一家潜在合作伙伴一样对待诺基亚，而诺基亚则是要把整个公司作为赌注，押在一家软件合作伙伴身上。
当时微软高管需要向诺基亚证明，他们真的是想更深层次地投入合作。他们还得考虑将诺基亚拱手让给谷歌的潜在后果。谷歌当时也在与诺基亚谈判。
虽然首批Windows手机去年11月推出时获得积极评价，但其使用的操作系统却没有在手机市场取得较大份额。据研究公司Canalys的数据，去年第四季度出货的手机当中，安装微软软件的只占3.1%，而安装谷歌和诺基亚软件的手机分别占了32.9%和30.6%。
诺基亚仍是世界最大的手机生产商，要是它与谷歌达成交易支持Android系统，Windows手机很可能就没有机会了。埃洛普说，到那个时候，比赛就已经分出了胜负。
埃洛普说，他是与施密特和谷歌手机业务高管鲁宾(Andy Rubin)举行谈判的。
鲍尔默及其手下1月份前往赫尔辛基，希望表明微软对于交易的达成是多么的认真。埃洛普说，根据计划，鲍尔默是要乘坐私人飞机飞往赫尔辛基，然后前往诺基亚的一处没有公开的设施。
埃洛普说，结果他接到鲍尔默打来的电话，说飞机因为大雪和大雾将无法在赫尔辛基着陆。在燃油即将耗尽的时候，鲍尔默着陆在斯德哥尔摩。埃洛普说，当时鲍尔默抵达赫尔辛基最快的方式是乘坐商业航班，不过这样做他被人认出的风险将会更大。
鲍尔默在候机室安静等待时，因为一个与其机票相关的差错，广播里直接叫了他的名字，差点让他暴露行迹。
接下来几个星期，随着与微软达成交易的形势越来越看好，诺基亚的高管开始向谷歌管理层暗示它倾向于跟谷歌的竞争对手做买卖。
虽然这些谈话本应属于机密，但谷歌一位副总裁甘多特拉(Vic Gundotra)2月8日发布的一条Twitter信息说，“GBP feb11'两只火鸡加在一起也变不成老鹰'”，这让诺亚基高管颇感震惊。这条信息的GBP feb11显然是指诺基亚2月11日将在英国举行的投资者大会。
埃洛普说，我猜他们是对我们做决定的方式不满意。他把甘多特拉的这条信息称为一枚“Tweet炸弹”。他紧跟着也发布了自己的Twitter信息，将诺基亚和微软比作发明飞机的莱特兄弟(Wright Brothers)：俄亥俄州戴顿两个造自行车的，有一天决定要飞起来。
宣布结盟的前一天即2月10日晚上，诺基亚董事会做出与微软合作的最后决定。接着埃洛普在诺基亚于伦敦召开的投资者大会上宣布了这一消息。
投资者反应冷淡：2月11日在纽约证券交易所(New York Stock Exchange)的交易中，诺基亚的美国存托股票下跌14%。自从2月10日以来，该股已经下跌1.81美元至9.09美元，跌幅17%。
Nick Wingfield / Christopher Lawton
（更新完成）
（本文版权归道琼斯公司所有，未经许可不得翻译或转载。）
Microsoft Corp. knew it had far more at stake than Google Inc. as the two rivals competed to secure a tie-up with Nokia Corp. Losing the deal to Google could have landed a fatal blow to Microsoft's chances in the mobile market.
So Microsoft aggressively courted the Finnish cellphone giant, offering to pay billions of dollars and dangling incentives to Nokia's new boss, a former Microsoft executive. In a series of globe-spanning meetings in recent months, Nokia, too, began to see Microsoft as the best fit.
Last week, Nokia Chief Executive Stephen Elop made his decision. He bet his company's future on smartphones running Microsoft software and snubbed Google's Android.
In the end, Microsoft agreed to pay Nokia billions of dollars over the course of their multiyear agreement to help Nokia market and develop Windows Phone devices, according to Mr. Elop. It is unclear how much Google may have offered Nokia.
Intel Corp. CEO Paul Otellini said Mr. Elop went with the highest bidder. 'Between Microsoft and Google he was getting incredible offers, money, to switch,' Mr. Otellini told investors Thursday. Microsoft bid more, he said.
A spokesman for Google declined to comment. In a speech at a mobile-industry conference this week, Google CEO Eric Schmidt said he wished Nokia had decided to use Android for its phones and hopes the Finnish handset maker will decide to do so in the future.
Among Microsoft's inducements: It was willing to use a mapping service in its products called Navteq, offered by a company Nokia had spent $8.1 billion to acquire several years ago. Google, on the other hand, had far more invested in its own mapping service than Microsoft and was less willing to use Nokia's service, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Also, Nokia urgently wanted to reach an agreement with one of the companies in time for a London meeting with investors and analysts last Friday, and Microsoft moved more quickly than its rival to strike an alliance in time, this person said.
Nokia will also get to participate in the advertising revenue generated by Microsoft location-based services enabled by Navteq -- for example, when someone searches for pizza on a Windows Phone and gets an ad for a nearby restaurant.
Mr. Elop, who joined Nokia from Microsoft in September, said during an interview this week that he began a strategic assessment of the company's options a month after taking the helm, choosing between continued development of Nokia's own software or a partnership with Microsoft or Google.
Mr. Elop said he was introduced via email to Google's Mr. Schmidt through a friend Mr. Elop described as a 'thought leader or pundit' in the technology industry.
He also called Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, his former boss, and informed him that Nokia had started evaluating its strategic options.
Mr. Ballmer and senior Microsoft executives first met in person with Mr. Elop and counterparts at Nokia on Nov. 15 at Microsoft's Redmond, Wash., headquarters.
That was followed by a meeting on Dec. 6 at the W Hotel in Times Square in New York where executives, including Microsoft's Terry Myerson and Nokia's Jo Harlow, had to figure out whether the companies could even get Windows Phone software to run well on the underlying chips that Nokia uses in its phones. The technical dialog between the companies continued weeks later at a meeting in Reykjavik, Iceland.
Talks then shifted to business and marketing discussions at a meeting in a stuffy basement room in London in mid-January, including Microsoft mobile communications President Andy Lees and Nokia Executive Vice President Kai Oistamo.
During this time, the talks with Microsoft nearly broke down, according to a person familiar with the matter. The main issue: Nokia executives believed Microsoft was treating Nokia as it would any potential handset partner, while Nokia was making a 'bet-the-company' decision on a software partner, this person said.
At that point, Microsoft executives had to show Nokia they was serious about making a deeper commitment. They also had to consider the implications of losing Nokia to Google, which was holding its own discussions with the company.
While Windows Phone has gotten positive reviews since the first handsets came out with it last November, the software hasn't made a dent in the mobile market. Microsoft software ran on only 3.1% of smartphones shipped in the fourth quarter, compared with 32.9% for Google and 30.6% for Nokia, according to research firm Canalys.
Any deal to back Google's Android by Nokia, still the world's largest maker of mobile handsets, would likely have torpedoed Windows Phone's chances. 'At that point, the race is over,' Mr. Elop said.
Mr. Elop said he negotiated with Mr. Schmidt and Google's top mobile executive, Andy Rubin.
Mr. Ballmer and his lieutenants headed for Helsinki in January to show how serious Microsoft was about cutting a deal. The plan was for Mr. Ballmer to fly privately into Helsinki, where he would then travel to a private Nokia facility, Mr. Elop added.
Mr. Elop said he instead got a call from Mr. Ballmer informing him that because of snow and fog, the plane wouldn't be able to land in Helsinki. About to run out of fuel, Mr. Ballmer instead landed in Stockholm. At that point, the fastest way for Mr. Ballmer to reach Helsinki was to fly commercially, Mr. Elop said, despite the greater risk that he could have been recognized.
While Mr. Ballmer was waiting quietly in the lounge, his cover was nearly blown when he was paged by name over the loudspeaker because of an error related to his plane ticket.
As momentum built over the coming weeks for a Microsoft deal, Nokia executives began to hint to Google executives that the company was leaning toward a deal with its rival.
Although their conversations were supposed to be confidential, Nokia executives were shocked when Vic Gundotra, a Google vice president, on Feb. 8 posted a message on his Twitter account that said: GBP feb11 'Two turkeys do not make an Eagle,' an apparent reference to Nokia's investor conference on Feb. 11.
'I'm guessing they weren't happy with the way the decision was going,' said Mr. Elop, who called Mr. Gundotra's message a 'tweet bomb.' He chimed in with his own tweet, comparing Nokia and Microsoft to the Wright Brothers: 'Two bicycle makers, from Dayton Ohio, one day decided to fly.'
On the evening of Feb. 10, the night before the alliance was announced, Nokia's board made the final decision to partner with Microsoft. Mr. Elop took the stage in London to sell the arrangement.
Investors reacted cooly: Nokia'a American depositary shares fell 14% Feb. 11 on the New York Stock Exchange. Since Feb. 10, the stock has fallen $1.81, or 17% to $9.09.
Nick Wingfield / Christopher Lawton
本文涉及股票或公司
So Microsoft aggressively courted the Finnish cellphone giant, offering to pay billions of dollars and dangling incentives to Nokia's new boss, a former Microsoft executive. In a series of globe-spanning meetings in recent months, Nokia, too, began to see Microsoft as the best fit.
Last week, Nokia Chief Executive Stephen Elop made his decision. He bet his company's future on smartphones running Microsoft software and snubbed Google's Android.
In the end, Microsoft agreed to pay Nokia billions of dollars over the course of their multiyear agreement to help Nokia market and develop Windows Phone devices, according to Mr. Elop. It is unclear how much Google may have offered Nokia.
Intel Corp. CEO Paul Otellini said Mr. Elop went with the highest bidder. 'Between Microsoft and Google he was getting incredible offers, money, to switch,' Mr. Otellini told investors Thursday. Microsoft bid more, he said.
A spokesman for Google declined to comment. In a speech at a mobile-industry conference this week, Google CEO Eric Schmidt said he wished Nokia had decided to use Android for its phones and hopes the Finnish handset maker will decide to do so in the future.
Among Microsoft's inducements: It was willing to use a mapping service in its products called Navteq, offered by a company Nokia had spent $8.1 billion to acquire several years ago. Google, on the other hand, had far more invested in its own mapping service than Microsoft and was less willing to use Nokia's service, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Also, Nokia urgently wanted to reach an agreement with one of the companies in time for a London meeting with investors and analysts last Friday, and Microsoft moved more quickly than its rival to strike an alliance in time, this person said.
Nokia will also get to participate in the advertising revenue generated by Microsoft location-based services enabled by Navteq -- for example, when someone searches for pizza on a Windows Phone and gets an ad for a nearby restaurant.
Mr. Elop, who joined Nokia from Microsoft in September, said during an interview this week that he began a strategic assessment of the company's options a month after taking the helm, choosing between continued development of Nokia's own software or a partnership with Microsoft or Google.
Mr. Elop said he was introduced via email to Google's Mr. Schmidt through a friend Mr. Elop described as a 'thought leader or pundit' in the technology industry.
He also called Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, his former boss, and informed him that Nokia had started evaluating its strategic options.
Mr. Ballmer and senior Microsoft executives first met in person with Mr. Elop and counterparts at Nokia on Nov. 15 at Microsoft's Redmond, Wash., headquarters.
That was followed by a meeting on Dec. 6 at the W Hotel in Times Square in New York where executives, including Microsoft's Terry Myerson and Nokia's Jo Harlow, had to figure out whether the companies could even get Windows Phone software to run well on the underlying chips that Nokia uses in its phones. The technical dialog between the companies continued weeks later at a meeting in Reykjavik, Iceland.
Talks then shifted to business and marketing discussions at a meeting in a stuffy basement room in London in mid-January, including Microsoft mobile communications President Andy Lees and Nokia Executive Vice President Kai Oistamo.
During this time, the talks with Microsoft nearly broke down, according to a person familiar with the matter. The main issue: Nokia executives believed Microsoft was treating Nokia as it would any potential handset partner, while Nokia was making a 'bet-the-company' decision on a software partner, this person said.
At that point, Microsoft executives had to show Nokia they was serious about making a deeper commitment. They also had to consider the implications of losing Nokia to Google, which was holding its own discussions with the company.
While Windows Phone has gotten positive reviews since the first handsets came out with it last November, the software hasn't made a dent in the mobile market. Microsoft software ran on only 3.1% of smartphones shipped in the fourth quarter, compared with 32.9% for Google and 30.6% for Nokia, according to research firm Canalys.
Any deal to back Google's Android by Nokia, still the world's largest maker of mobile handsets, would likely have torpedoed Windows Phone's chances. 'At that point, the race is over,' Mr. Elop said.
Mr. Elop said he negotiated with Mr. Schmidt and Google's top mobile executive, Andy Rubin.
Mr. Ballmer and his lieutenants headed for Helsinki in January to show how serious Microsoft was about cutting a deal. The plan was for Mr. Ballmer to fly privately into Helsinki, where he would then travel to a private Nokia facility, Mr. Elop added.
Mr. Elop said he instead got a call from Mr. Ballmer informing him that because of snow and fog, the plane wouldn't be able to land in Helsinki. About to run out of fuel, Mr. Ballmer instead landed in Stockholm. At that point, the fastest way for Mr. Ballmer to reach Helsinki was to fly commercially, Mr. Elop said, despite the greater risk that he could have been recognized.
While Mr. Ballmer was waiting quietly in the lounge, his cover was nearly blown when he was paged by name over the loudspeaker because of an error related to his plane ticket.
As momentum built over the coming weeks for a Microsoft deal, Nokia executives began to hint to Google executives that the company was leaning toward a deal with its rival.
Although their conversations were supposed to be confidential, Nokia executives were shocked when Vic Gundotra, a Google vice president, on Feb. 8 posted a message on his Twitter account that said: GBP feb11 'Two turkeys do not make an Eagle,' an apparent reference to Nokia's investor conference on Feb. 11.
'I'm guessing they weren't happy with the way the decision was going,' said Mr. Elop, who called Mr. Gundotra's message a 'tweet bomb.' He chimed in with his own tweet, comparing Nokia and Microsoft to the Wright Brothers: 'Two bicycle makers, from Dayton Ohio, one day decided to fly.'
On the evening of Feb. 10, the night before the alliance was announced, Nokia's board made the final decision to partner with Microsoft. Mr. Elop took the stage in London to sell the arrangement.
Investors reacted cooly: Nokia'a American depositary shares fell 14% Feb. 11 on the New York Stock Exchange. Since Feb. 10, the stock has fallen $1.81, or 17% to $9.09.
Nick Wingfield / Christopher Lawton
本文涉及股票或公司
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