Rumours of a Nokia buyout have been commonplace throughout 2011 with the the latest rumours from Danske Bank suggesting their new partner, Microsoft, will make an bid in early 2012.
The Nokia/Microsoft buyout rumours have been rife since the two jumped into bed for their new Windows Phone partnership, which see’s all future handsets from Nokia appearing exclusively on Windows Phone.
Rumours reached fever pitch when Google made a successful bid for Motorola, which led many experts to speculated the deal was for Motorola’s war chest of patents, which then lead many analysts to predict Microsoft would do the same with Nokia.
Stephen Elop, the current CEO, who actually joined the company from Microsoft, is seen by many as the person who will make the deal with Microsoft happen.
But, the Finnish Mobile phone maker has been quick to stick their guns ever time the rumours surface: “We put these rumours to rest a long time ago,” said Doug Dawson from the company, but it wouldn’t be the first time a company has said one thing and done another.
A smartphone deal “makes sense,” analysts at Danske Bank said in a report in which they raised their recommendation on Nokia to “buy” from “hold” and their 12-month stock-price estimate to 5 euros from 4.70 euros.
Although Microsoft buying Nokia is a interesting prospect, Microsoft hasn’t got a great track record with its own mobile hardware. Their first attempt at creating hardware was with its social media handset the Microsoft Kin, which it launched back in 2010.
Historically speaking, Microsoft has avoided getting involved with the hardware side of things, but Apple’s success and Google’s aquisition of Motorola might prompt Microsoft to finally make the jump.
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