Handset vendor Nokia is not for sale, CEO Stephen Elop told a conference in London on 9 June.
Speaking at the Open Mobile Summit, Elop shrugged off rumours of an impending takeover by Microsoft or Samsung as “baseless”.
“[The mobile industry] is going…
Handset vendor Nokia is not for sale, CEO Stephen Elop told a conference in London on 9 June.
Speaking at the Open Mobile Summit, Elop shrugged off rumours of an impending takeover by Microsoft or Samsung as “baseless”.
“[The mobile industry] is going through a pretty dynamic and destructive time”, he said, pointing to a shift from a battle of devices to a war of ecosystems.
But Elop said the company was now focused on competing aggressively with smartphone behemoths Apple and Google.
Outlining this strategy, he said the group was confident it could capitalise on the need for a third competitive ecosystem, building on its strategic partnership with Microsoft.
Nokia’s smartphone strategy is pinned on creating an open mobile environment that will draw consumers to its services, including location-based applications and tools to provide unified communications, such as VoIP. Leading VoIP provider Skype has agreed to a US$8.5bn acquisition by Microsoft.
“We at Nokia are on a very clear path to build that ecosystem,” said Elop.
However, takeover speculation continues to hound Nokia, whose equity value has fallen 42.74% in the last six months. The company issued a profit warning at the start of the month, and lost its position as top handset maker by revenue to Apple. The company remains the top global maker by volume, although Samsung now has the crown for Europe.
A media frenzy ensued when renowned Nokia watcher Eldar Murtazin twice speculated that Microsoft/Nokia M&A deal was in the works, the second time mentioning a possible valuation: US$19bn.
