Nokia could be ready to sell its smartphone business in 2013, according to one analyst's predictions
The idea that Nokia will sell its smartphone business has re-emerged with comments from a Forbes Online analyst suggesting it will become a ‘software and services’ enterprise.
Said analyst is Tristan Louis, founder of Keepskor and regular contributor to the business publication, who, to be fair, recognises his statement as his ‘most controversial prediction’.
Looking at possible key events in 2013, Louis said there would be a ‘departure of Nokia from the phone business as the company sells its mobile operation and infrastructure divisions to Huawei in order to focus on software and services.’
‘With the company’s bet on Windows [Phone] 8 having failed in the marketplace, it will see Microsoft and Huawei competing for the mobile device division and will eventually sell its smartphone group to Microsoft and the rest of its telecom interests to Huawei,’ he added.
On the one hand, there’s not a great deal to support such a claim, and Louis certainly doesn’t present any evidence to substantiate it.
However, this is understandable to an extent (though not exactly justifiable), because this isn’t anything we haven’t heard before - other analysts have made similar predictions already, meaning there’s an element of ‘heard it on the grapevine’.
Indeed, our own resident conspiracy theorist Richard Goodwin has penned plenty of his own opinions on the subject and there is a certain sense to the idea that Microsoft would want to buy-up Nokia.
However, in that scenario, Microsoft would want to buy Nokia to give it its own way of creating Windows Phone 8 handsets, possibly under the Surface brand.
The idea that Microsoft would pick up a husk that Huawei (of all companies) has picked clean is a little bit odd to say the least.