Short Sell Nokia NOW! :P

[Renegade]

One of everyone's favourite companies to dis has just bought Nokia:

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2013/09/02/microsoft-buying-nokias-_n_3858156.html?utm_hp_ref=tw

Time to short sell Nokia and make a fortune~!

Microsoft buying Nokia's devices and services business, will license patents for about $7.2B

Microsoft says it is buying Nokia's devices and services business, and getting access to the company's patents, for a total of 5.44 billion euros ($7.2 billion) in an effort to expand its share of the smartphone market.

Nokia confirmed the deal in a joint news release from the two companies Monday night.

In the statement, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer says the deal will bring Nokia's capability and talent in hardware design, engineering, manufacturing, sales, marketing and distribution to Microsoft.

Does anyone see this ending well?

Ok, jokes aside, I really don't know what this will mean for the mobile market. It could very well be a good thing. I guess it all depends on Google and Microsoft though, as we know that there's not a snowball's hope in Hell of Apple doing anything good for people. Though they did sign up with the NSA to spy on people later than the other 2... oh cripes - we're hosed!

[Edvard]

Aw, jeez.  Maybe they should read their own history.  Remember the last time they took a decent phone and turned it into crap? 

[Vurbal]

One of everyone's favourite companies to dis has just bought Nokia:

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2013/09/02/microsoft-buying-nokias-_n_3858156.html?utm_hp_ref=tw

Time to short sell Nokia and make a fortune~!

Microsoft buying Nokia's devices and services business, will license patents for about $7.2B

Microsoft says it is buying Nokia's devices and services business, and getting access to the company's patents, for a total of 5.44 billion euros ($7.2 billion) in an effort to expand its share of the smartphone market.

Nokia confirmed the deal in a joint news release from the two companies Monday night.

In the statement, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer says the deal will bring Nokia's capability and talent in hardware design, engineering, manufacturing, sales, marketing and distribution to Microsoft.

Does anyone see this ending well?

What's most interesting is the possibility of Stephen Elop becoming Microsoft's new CEO. Some people have alleged this buyout was his plan all along and I'm not entirely convinced they're wrong.

The timing of the announcement essentially killed both Symbian and MeeGo. That wouldn't be particularly odd except for the fact it was shortly before Nokia's last Symbian phone went on sale and more than a year before the first Nokia Windows Phone. Combine that with Elop's previous stint as a Microsoft exec and his apparent future as their CEO and it has the stink of corruption at the very least.

Ok, jokes aside, I really don't know what this will mean for the mobile market. It could very well be a good thing. I guess it all depends on Google and Microsoft though, as we know that there's not a snowball's hope in Hell of Apple doing anything good for people. Though they did sign up with the NSA to spy on people later than the other 2... oh cripes - we're hosed!

I wouldn't be so quick to accuse Google of "signing up" with the NSA. They were the first company to start publishing data on government data requests and also the ones who pushed the government to let them provide at least general information about National Security Letters. In fact back in March, after a judge in California ruled NSL's illegal, they immediately filed a motion challenging 19 orders they had recently received.

[TaoPhoenix]

But weren't the reasons Steve Ballmer is getting ditched, is that he "didn't get" the new scene? So is Trojan Horsing Nokia really the answer to "leadership"?! So I guess I was mildly interested in who they picked for new CEO, but I guess I'd be a bit dismayed if it was Steven Elop!

[40hz]

Maybe the board decided Ballmer needed to pursue the patent troll strategy a little more aggressively than he had.

Who needs real innovation when you can just claim everybody else's work as your own through the generosity of some clueless USPTO examiner?

From ArsTechinica:

Nokia confirms: Patent attacks may continue after Microsoft purchase
Patents remain with Nokia, meaning Android handset makers may get sued twice.

by Joe Mullin - Sept 3 2013, 10:52pm EDT

   

There's something notable missing from Microsoft's $7.1 billion purchase of Nokia's phone business yesterday—the company's giant patent portfolio.

As Nokia's cell phone business declined, it started filing patent lawsuits. Nokia was unafraid to sue giant competitors like RIM and Apple. The Finnish company's aggression was one of the key factors that ended the detente between tech companies who used to avoid patent spats for fear it would only lead to "mutually assured destruction."

Microsoft paid billions for a license to Nokia's patents, but the company has made explicit that Nokia still owns the patents. The genius of this move is that it allows Microsoft to double down on its patent war with Android. Microsoft boasts that the majority of Android phones sold worldwide have already paid for a license to Microsoft patents. By 2011, patent licensing revenue exceeded Microsoft's revenue from Windows Phone.

Same old same old...but now it's even 'better.'

[Renegade]

Same old same old...but now it's even 'better.'

I believe you mean that in the reality TV sense of things?

Can you just imagine all the fun we'll have laughing at the bloodbaths over the next however long?

Woohoo! BLOOD! BLOOD BLOOD! Ooops! I mean, SHORT! SHORT! SHORT! Oh bother... Perhaps another Winnie the Pooh video would be nice right now...

[wraith808]

Patents remain with Nokia, meaning Android handset makers may get sued twice.

Giga-what?  Can they even do that?!?  That just seems capital Wrong!

[Vurbal]

Patents remain with Nokia, meaning Android handset makers may get sued twice.

Giga-what?  Can they even do that?!?  That just seems capital Wrong!

Well it looks like I had this exactly backwards. It appears what this deal does is allow Nokia to start suing more Android handset makers over their patents. Technically they could have been doing that before except that it would have been counter productive given their partnership with MS.

OTOH Motorola Mobility and Nokia already had a cross-licensing deal which is now transferred to Microsoft. IOW this protects MS from Google suing them over Motorola patents. It also covers similar deals with all kinds of of other companies.

Sure they can - as long as there isn't already a licensing deal in place with Nokia for those patents. The prior MS shakedowns only cover their own patents. If I had to guess, though, I'd say the primary goal is going after Motorola Mobility since Nokia can't compete with Google's deep pockets. Microsoft probably had to promise a nominal licensing fee or a fixed percentage of any lawsuits or licensing agreements - whichever is more.

Nokia already has a licensing deal with Apple and IIRC they're still in the middle of lawsuits against HTC. However depending on the terms they're giving Microsoft (ie whether MS will takeover 3rd party licensing altogether) they may have to drop those suits. My guess is MS will attempt to use the threat of lawsuits over Nokia patents to strongarm Android handset makers into making (or continuing to make) Windows Phones.

The bigger question is how well Nokia's patents will stand up to examination. I suspect on the whole their phone patents aren't significantly stronger than the ones Google got with Motorola. I know at least one Nokia claim against HTC (over Google Play) wasn't going well in Germany. However if MS is the sole source for third party licensing the German courts will most likely hold off on anything permanent pending the results of any US lawsuits. In fact that's possibly a factor in this deal. Put the rights in Microsoft's hands and they get a do over.