Nokia famously abandoned its own mobile phone operating system and hooked up with Microsoft to run their Windows Phone 7.5 software on their phones. These phones have launched in Europe and are preparing to launch now in the United States, where more than a $200 million advertising budget will be spent in promoting the phones. Today, rumors that Microsoft could take over Nokia's smartphone division have resurfaced, the same rumors that were shot down last year.
Mobile industry watcher Eldar Murtazin took to Twitter today to proclaim that Microsoft and Nokia executives will soon be meeting with each other to discuss the possibility of Microsoft taking over the smartphone division, and the terms of a deal.
Murtazin says such a deal between the two tech giants could be finalized in the second half of 2012. The deal, if it came to fruition, would leave Nokia with just its "dumb" phone or feature phone business, Nokia Siemens NEtworks, and mapping services subsidiary Navteq.
Murtazin also says that current Nokia boss Stephen Elon will resign from his role as CEO sometime in 2012, and could possibly return to Microsoft where he once ran the Business Division. He also claims that the Windows smartphones would no longer be branded "Nokia."
According to Murtazin, the ball is in Microsoft's court right now and notes that they are particularly interested in buying Nokia's valuable portfolio of patents and have been working on a deal with Nokia since May 2011.
Nokia is vehemently denying everything that Murtazin has claimed, saying that such a deal was never even on the table. Murtazin does have some credibility, as some of his predictions about things related to Nokia's business have been spot-on in the past. He also gets some major scoops, and breaks big news before official announcements have been made. So what he's saying shouldn't be written off as blatant speculation. He's not always right, but he's got a decent track record.
Adding further to the possible credibility of the rumors is that Murtazin isn't the only person talking about a potential sale of Nokia's smart phone division. If Microsoft were to actually buy Nokia's smart phone unit, the deal would be somewhat similar to that of Google's acquisition of Motorola Mobility and would put them in a better position to complete with Apple, Google/Motorola, and other Android phone makers.
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ClevelandLeader/~3/vSZGtdltXxw/18043
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