MSFT and Nokia

MSFT has announced that they are buying Nokia’s phone assets for $7.2 billion. This sounds like a perfect marriage: a phone OS that nobody wants in Windows and a phone maker that has slipped to low single digits in sales. Should Samsung and the iFruit company be worried? I don’t think so. Here’s more:

Microsoft announced on Monday that it will acquire Nokia's devices and services unit in a bid to accelerate the software giant's Windows ecosystem.

The deal is set to go ahead for about $5 billion (€3.79bn), with an additional $2.17 billion (€1.65bn) to be spent on licensing Nokia's patents.

The boards of both companies agreed to the transaction, which will see the Redmond, Washington-based software giant purchase the Espoo, Finland-based company's phone making unit and patents, and license and use its mapping services.

The news comes a few weeks after a Wall Street Journal report claimed that Microsoft was looking to buy Nokia, but discussions broke down.

The agreement will see Microsoft becoming a fully fledged phone maker, years after it evolved its Windows Mobile platform into Windows Phone.

Microsoft said in a lengthy statement that it will draw in overseas cash to fund the transaction. The deal is expected to complete around the first quarter of 2014, and will be subject to approval by the shareholders of both companies.

U.S. and EU regulators will likely require the approval of the acquisition.