Microsoft has confirmed a deal that will see image collection assets from its Bing Mapping service moving to ride sharing service Uber. Details of the agreement are as of yet unknown, but it is presumed that around 100 Microsoft employees and some technology will be moving to Uber.
This does not actually mean that Microsoft is selling a substantial part of Bing, or its mapping service. The affected group happens to be a very small portion of the department that deals with image collection. However, this would indicate that Uber has plans for these engineers and their expertise. What those plans are is currently unknown, but it could have something to do with the 3D aerial view of maps and street footage.
It is an interesting move by Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella to divest the company of this particular group. Nadella has been making some tough choices about Microsoft, and looks to be trimming the fat. Microsoft had recently reorganised its management structure, and “allowed” former Nokia boss Stephen Elop to leave.
Nadella will likely make more changes at Microsoft over his reign as Microsoft CEO, although his moves so far have gone down reasonably well. Aside from a few minor problems like the free-upgrade for Windows 10 fiasco, Microsoft looks to be in better shape than it was under Steve Ballmer.
[Source: Techcrunch]
