Report: Microsoft to Buy Nokia Mobile Division

It’s been a big year for Microsoft so far. Between signing a landmark deal with Nokia and its more recent bid to purchase Skype, the Redmond team has certainly been busy. However, it seems Ballmer and co. may have another trick up their sleeve for us. 

The latest scuttlebutt says Microsoft has its eye on Nokia and the two companies will be entering discussions next week. If fruitful, they would see Nokia’s mobile phone division sold to Microsoft. The source of these reports is Russian blogger Eldar Murtazin. Murtazin focuses mostly on phones and has a pretty decent track record. Though he doesn’t know the finer details, Murtazin claims both parties are in a hurry and that the deal could close before the end of this year.

Of course, lending credence to the rumors, is the fact that Nokia recently signed a deal with Microsoft that will see Windows Phone 7 become the Finnish company’s primary smartphone OS. Prior to this decision, Nokia was very dedicated to its own software and desperate to differentiate itself from other manufacturers by developing its own OS. That all changed when current CEO Stephen Elop took the reigns. Oh, and did we mention that he's a former Microsoft employee?

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Nokia and Microsoft Announce Phone Partnership

Nokia has confirmed yesterday’s rumors and announced that it will adopt Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 operating system for its line of smartphones.

Gone are the days when Nokia denounced the use of Android by companies other than Google. The Finnish company had insisted that diluting your own brand by using so popular an OS was a poor move for any company. However, Nokia is under new leadership now, and it seems the newly-crowned chief executive is eager to correct past mistakes.

At an event in London today, Stephen Elop and Steve Ballmer announced a partnership that aids both companies in their battles against Google and Apple. Though Nokia claims it will continue work on its own mobile operating system, MeeGo, and still plans to launch MeeGo devices before the end of the year, the company has said Windows Phone 7 will be its principal smartphone strategy going forward.

Nokia will do well to have a more recognizable smartphone OS on its devices, but this deal isn’t all for Nokia. For its part, Microsoft will benefit from access to Nokia’s experiences with hardware and Espoo is promising to bring Windows to “a larger range of price points, market segments and geographies.”

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