While many believe that Microsofta4ぎa4г recent partnership with Nokia is a not-so-stealthy hint at an eventual takeover, Nokia CEO Stephen Elop (pictured right with Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer) doesna4ぎa4д agree, and sees no reason why Microsoft would choose to buy the company.
&''I&'m not aware of a strategic interest that Microsoft would have in the rest of the business,&'' Elop said to Reuters. &''To the extent that a partnership has been formed around what they&'re really interested in, then what would an acquisition bring other than a good year of anti-trust investigation, huge turmoil, delays&''
Elop has a point. By partnering with Nokia to be its flagship Windows Phone 7 device maker, Microsoft already has what it needs from Nokia without the headache of fixing its internal problems. And you can bet that European regulators wouldna4ぎa4д have taken too kindly to Microsoft completely gobbling up one of Europe&'s biggest companies.
Microsoft is reportedly paying Nokia $1 billion over five years to become a Windows Phone shop. Nokia will also pay Microsoft a fee for every copy of Windows on its phones (so basically, every phone). But Nokia will also be saving quite a bit of money that it otherwise would have been spending on software research and development.
Elop also confirmed that Nokia workers are currently hard at work at the companya4ぎa4г first Windows Phone devices. a4ぎAIf this was an acquisition scenario, that wouldn&'t be possible,a4ぎ he said.
Elop previously said he hopes to have a Windows Phone 7 device from Nokia out by the end of the year.
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Companies: Microsoft, nokia
People: Stephen Elop, steve ballmer
Companies: Microsoft, nokia
People: Stephen Elop, steve ballmer
Devindra Hardawar is VentureBeat's lead mobile writer and East Coast correspondent. He studied philosophy at Amherst College, worked in IT support for several years, and has been writing about technology since 2004. He now lives in Brooklyn, New York. You can reach him at devindra@venturebeat.com (all story pitches should also be sent to tips@venturebeat.com), and on Twitter at @Devindra.
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