Earlier today, Microsoft announced that it would be acquiring Nokia’s Devices & Services business and also license patents in a cash deal worth EURO 5.44 billion. As usual the first place people reacted to the news was on Twitter. Here are some tweets that pretty much explain the deal in 140 characters:

I hope Microsoft are serious about buying Nokia. Might turn out to be Windows Shopping.

— Gaurav (@bwoyblunder) September 3, 2013

Won’t be surprised if it was a typo and actually ‘Micromax’ and not ‘Microsoft’ that bought Nokia. Lol, anyone can afford to buy Nokia.

— scaryhairyman (@scaryhairyman) September 3, 2013

Lets just face it — iPhone and Android ecosystem did disrupt two major companies — Microsoft and Nokia — both ignored winds of change

— Om Malik (@om) September 3, 2013

Tweet in the future: Elop sells Microsoft to ________.

— Neeraj Arora (@neerajarora) September 3, 2013

Time it took Stephen Elop as CEO to sell: Macromedia to Adobe: 3 months, Nokia to Microsoft: 3 years.

— Kontra (@counternotions) September 3, 2013

Nokia acquisition a consolidation of Microsoft’s late-but-aggressive mobile-catchup strategy. That still leaves Intel floundering out there

— Prasanto K Roy (@prasanto) September 3, 2013

Did MSFT also get a free CEO with the NOK purchase? (Or was that the plan all along?)

— Kawaljit Singh Bedi (@kawaljit) September 3, 2013

Now all that Microsoft needs is a decent smartphone OS. Oh wait.

— Brian Klug (@nerdtalker) September 3, 2013

so this is why Eloping is a good idea.

— ashish sinha (@cnha) September 3, 2013

Nokia was innovating too fast for Microsoft. So, the latter just purchased the company to slow them down.

— Rajesh (@ePandu) September 3, 2013

Verizon, Nokia and loop mobile. Look ma, even bankers are saying Mobile is big!

— Vijay Shekhar (@vijayshekhar) September 3, 2013

Nokia’s enterprise value is less than that of Skype at acq.

— chetansharma (@chetansharma) September 3, 2013

Was Elop always Microsoft’s trojan horse inside Nokia? I don’t hold much hope for Nokia now. Sigh. Once a great company.

— Mahesh Murthy (@maheshmurthy) September 3, 2013

Weird. I take my Nokia 1020 phone out for a day of testing and Microsoft buys the company. Paid more for Skype, though, I think.

— Robert Scoble (@Scobleizer) September 3, 2013

Fun fact: Elop never sold his Redmond house and his family never moved from there when he joined Nokia

— Eric Jackson (@ericjackson) September 3, 2013

Skype for $8.5 billion. Nokia for $7.2 billion.

— Pravin (@BeingPractical) September 3, 2013

#DidYouKnow? #nokia‘s history can be traced back to 1865 when Fredrik Idestam established a pulp mill in Finland & began manufacturing paper

— Business Standard (@bsindia) September 3, 2013

Breaking: Microsoft trades Nokia to Facebook for Instagram Windows Phone app

— nilay patel (@reckless) September 3, 2013

Nokia’s effectively been a subdivision of Microsoft for two years. Now they’re just making it official.

— Marco Arment (@marcoarment) September 3, 2013

Surprised to find Nokia has more employees than Microsoft at the moment. Just under 1/3 will switch across. Wonder what the rest will do.

— dan barker (@danbarker) September 3, 2013

Knock Knock Who? Me, Nokia Normal entry not allowed Then? Come through WINDOWS Okay, done.

— Bhak Sala (@bhak_sala) September 3, 2013

Microsoft buys Nokia for ‘first-rate’ smartphone experience when the best Nokia phone was actually the one with Snake on it.

— Taiwanese Animators (@NMAtv) September 3, 2013