Microsoft and Nokia got into a historical partnership and ever since then we have been hearing rumors of the two companies becoming one. That so far hasn’t happened and rumors have been shot down numerous times. At the same time the mobile industry continues to explode. Android is talking a million activations a day, Samsung is now the largest player in the mobile market and Microsoft is still hoping to gain traction with Windows Phone.
Nokia in midst of all the chaos is doing reasonably well in the low end market with several performers off late. However the Windows Phone laden Lumia series is yet to fly. That’s a cause of worry for Nokia, plummeting stock prices, weak smartphone sales and loss of mind + market share is tough. In the current scenario, a lot for Nokia and Microsoft is dependent on Windows Phone’s Apollo release later this year.
But what if Samsung acquires Nokia? The worlds largest and second largest mobile phone makers coming together? If done right, it could certainly make a good force. Both Google and Microsoft would share a worry, with the future of their OSes in the hands on a powerful conglomerate. At the same time for Samsung, acquiring Nokia won’t fetch anything more than distribution strength. When we considered Samsung acquiring Palm, it was about getting a competitive OS that Seoul would own, that unfortunately won’t happen with Nokia.
Samsung has made its attempts to get an OS up and running. Be it Bada OS or the recent attempt to drive Tizen getting onboard the Linux Foundation. Getting excessive hardware strength, a powerful brand name with Nokia and a weird situation with Microsoft might not help Samsung as much against a focused player like Apple, nor would it help Samsung’s relations with Google. Given the situation of the industry, it seems no one trusts the other, after all Google still owns Motorola!
