Analyst: Apple to Gain Big Time in Buying Nokia
Nokia is struggling to regain its old footing and is placing most of its future bets with Microsoft but few analysts believe that the Finnish phone maker will rediscover the narrow road to recovery.
Instead, tech expert Tristan Louis is convinced that Nokia will end up as the ownership of one of the majors in the new tech world setting and if Apple is willing it'll be a big winner in acquiring the rapidly faltering company.
In a recent blog post, Mr Louis argued that Nokia is valid target for many tech giants, foremost of which is Microsoft, whose latest Windows Phone 8 mobile platform will power the handset vendor's flagship Lumia smartphones.
Google is another likely suitor for Nokia, the main attraction of which, according to Mr Louis, is its "patents treasure chest," that Forbes Magazine valued at around $US10 billion at the maximum.
The same value is attributed to Nokia's market value and a buy for Apple should be easy considering that the latter has a cash vault that contains more than $US100 billion, thanks to its strings of successful years selling the world's most sought-after smartphones and tablet computers, Mr Louis said.
He added that if Apple is serious not only on sustaining but also in protecting its incredible gains in the past half-decade, it should make a move on Nokia.
The tech analyst said buying Nokia is win-win for Apple and in doing so, the tech giant will "once again, reorder the mobile landscape while solidifying its own control of the future."
For starters, Apple will acquire with Nokia a patent catalogue that by Mr Louis' estimates contains some 36,000 exclusive rights on mobile technologies that include 4G and LTE, the most essential of which are the basic tech architectures that will only be enhanced in the next decade.
For Apple, Nokia serves as insurance for its future patent claims as the company muscles its way for continued market dominance. The tech giant will enjoy more robust legal protection just in case it meets disputes in the same form with its ongoing legal tussles with Samsung, Mr Louis wrote in his blog.
A deal with Nokia will also deliver to Apple the former's cutting edge technologies in map applications and wireless televisions, feature that the tech titan can definitely deploy with the future iterations of its devices, the blog post said.
And for the Nokia operations that the U.S. firm deems were not fit with its business model, such as the former's networking and telecommunication businesses, these, Mr Louis said, could be transferred to interested parties like Alcatel-Lucent and Siemens. Easily, the problem of excess baggage is solved.
And there is a bonus waiting for Apple once the firm takes hold of Nokia, Mr Louis said. The deal will effectively smother the mobile aspiration of Microsoft, further tilting the bitter Apple-Microsoft rivalry into Apple's favour.
"Microsoft's hope to become a likely contender for consumers' hearts might be dealt something pretty close to a deathblow. The company would remain a strong player in the areas it has power in but its attempt at getting a strong footing in the mobile space would be the setback that kills its ambitions there," Mr Louis wrote.