Nokia shareholders today voted to approve Microsoft's acquisition of the Finnish firm's handset business, a deal that was originally announced back in early September. According to the Financial Times, 99.7 percent of the shareholders present at the meeting voted in favor of the deal, which will see Microsoft drop approximately $7.2 billion on Nokia's Devices & Services division and a license to Nokia's patents.

Once the deal is done, several current Nokia executives will make the move over to Microsoft, including CEO Stephen Elop. Details on just what Microsoft plans to do with Nokia's hardware business are still up in the air, though. So far Microsoft has only said that it purchased Nokia because the deal will help to protect Windows Phone's future and improve the platform's pace of innovation and marketing efficiency. 

Now that Nokia's shareholders have given the Microsoft deal the green light, it must be approved by regulators. Microsoft has said that it's confident that the transaction will be approved, though, with Q1 2014 being eyed as the window in which Microsoft and Nokia will officially tie the knot. That timeframe is coming up fast, and that's good because I'm sure that there are quite a few people interested in seeing what Microsoft is planning to do once it gets Nokia's boxes packed up in the U-Haul and moved from Finland to Redmond, Wash.

Are you looking forward to Nokia's Devices & Services division becoming part of Microsoft? What do you think Microsoft has planned for Nokia's handset business?

Via The Verge, Financial Times