Two years after buying Nokia’s device manufacturing business and its patent portfolio for $7.2 billion, Microsoft is selling the business of simple mobile phones and all its assets to Taiwanese and Finnish companies for $350 million.

Swedish MAG Interactive raised $6 million in the first round of financing. The largest amount was invested by Nokia’s venture fund. 

Today in Abu Dhabi, the Finnish giant presented its own tablet for five minutes to dead Windows RT 8.1, as well as several new smartphones and phones.

Stephen Elop will be appointed Executive Vice President of Microsoft Devices and will be engaged in the further development of Windows Phone, Xbox console and Surface tablet series in early 2014.

Microsoft will pay about $5 billion for the division that creates devices, and another $2.18 billion for Nokia‘s patent portfolio. The software and NSN departments of the Finnish company will remain independent.

The Betaworks project managed to overcome the bar of 5 million downloads and almost 1 billion gaming sessions on iOS in the first three months since the release (after which there was a decline). A good start. The question is whether the game will be able to repeat its result on the Google and Amazon platforms.

According to the latest data from the research company IDC, sales of Android smartphones increased by 73.5% compared to last year. 

The “bird” company has a new operating director. He became Teemu Suila, a Nokia veteran who gave about 18 years of his life to the cellular company.     

ABI Research analysts believe that Finns urgently need to change their policy, currently focused on Windows Phone, if they want the company to survive until the end of 2013. 

According to unofficial data, Nokia will introduce a 10.1-inch tablet based on Windows RT in the first quarter of 2013.

Apple is still the main smartphone manufacturer in the United States, but in Europe, the “apple” company is among the catching up, Kantar analysts write in their latest report.

Sales of two new products from Nokia – Lumia 920 and 820 smartphones based on Windows Phone 8 – have started in Russia today. On this occasion, Stephen Elop and Stephen Ballmer specially came to Moscow for the presentation of the devices.

Losing its position in the mobile device market, Nokia decided to try itself in a new field by launching its own advertising aggregator Nokia Ad Exchange.

Crowned with laurels, the Finnish Rovio team, together with fellow countrymen from Nokia, is preparing another replenishment of the Angry Birds franchise called Angry Birds Roost (“Roost of Angry Birds”) exclusively for the Lumia line of smartphones based on Windows Phone.

Microsoft said that the first smartphones for Windows Phone 8 will be on sale on the shelves of Europe this weekend, and also shared new details about its mobile OS. The world press, having played with the platform, is not enthusiastic about it yet.

According to the quarterly report of the analytical company IDC, Samsung’s smartphone shipments have doubled Apple’s iPhone shipments.

Despite the promise to support the platform until 2016, Nokia admits that due to practical considerations, they have already stopped improving it.