Microsoft Is Already Advertising Its Nokia Deal (And It’s Not Even Official Yet)

Perhaps Microsoft doesn’t think its deal to purchase Nokia’s device and services business has gotten enough media coverage yet. Because today the company is advertising the acquisition in ads on the New York Times’ website.

The ads kind of give you the feeling that they were pulled together rather quickly; they aren’t very appealing, and the ad copy is straightforward:

“Nokia’s Devices & Services business is joining Microsoft to deliver more choices and faster innovation to phones and smart devices of all kinds,” they read.

They also fail to mention one not-so-minor point: The deal isn’t official yet.

Nokia shareholders still have to vote on the deal at a special meeting in November, and the agreement needs to get a regulatory stamp of approval. There’s no indication that any of this will be a problem, but it seems weird to advertise it in such a public way, as though it were a done deal.

A Microsoft spokesperson didn’t immediately provide comment, but I’ll post an update if I get more information.

In the meantime, if you haven’t read Ina Fried’s inside story of how the Microsoft-Nokia deal got done, do that now.