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Tuesday, 18 June 2013 21:15

Huawei Open To Acquiring Nokia, But Windows Phone Would Have To Go

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Once upon a time Nokia was a giant in the industry. They towered over everyone even Apple and held the market with their own OS Symbian for a number of years.

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Unfortunately as the rest of the world broke into Android and iOS Symbian was quickly forgotten even though it is one of the founders of the smartphone era. Nokia was also no slouch at developing hardware either. They are the holders of a large number of patents (their own inventions too). Still despite all of this Nokia could not hold onto the crown. After a few years trying to make Symbian more relevant they have dropped several rungs in the ladder and now are partnered up with Microsoft as the premier partner for their Windows Phone platform.

Although the reasons why Nokia went in this direction will probably never be known most suspect that, former Microsoft Executive turned Nokia boss, Stephen Elop is the reason. There were many at Nokia that thought producing both Windows and Android phones would have been a much smarter move. Sadly Elop is continuing down the Windows path despite low market share and the poor state of the new Windows eco system. This has put them in a pretty bad place in the market and also has them in a position to potentially be bought out. For a while many thought that was the intention when Microsoft invested a few million into an exclusive deal with Nokia and that we would have seen Microsoft acquire Nokia by now.

Other rumored potential buyers have been Samsung, HTC, and even Asus at one point. So far no one has made the final purchase. Now there is a new rumor about a possible Nokia buy. This time the suspect is Huawei, but unlike other suspected buyers Huawei has actually said they are open to the idea. The move would make sense for them as it would give them a large number of patents, a factory and more. Huawei is already the third leading manufacturer in China and they would like grab a bigger share there and push into the US. Grabbing up Nokia would give them a chance to do this faster than they can with their current portfolio.

There is a small issue though, Nokia might not want to be bought. So far they are staying quiet about any potential acquisition. Elop could be holding out for a Microsoft buy or simply wanting another big check from Steve and crew. One thing that Huawei was very clear on though, if they do pick up Nokia they will be getting rid of Windows Phone and move to Android. This is something that many analysts have said that Nokia needs to do anyway, well at least in part. If Nokia had both Android and Windows phones they could begin to grab back more market share and that is what business is all about; maybe Mr. Elop needs to remember that.

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Read 2207 times Last modified on Tuesday, 18 June 2013 21:22
Sean Kalinich

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