Why Apple should acquire Nokia

http://www.tnl.net/blog/2012/10/06/why-apple-should-acquire-nokia/

by tristan_louis • 14 years ago

34 41 14 years ago

tnl.net

Apocryphon• 14 years ago

How could Nokia suddenly do an about face heel turn away from Microsoft.

manojlds• 14 years ago

Hostile take over? Also, Elop's time is running out, so turning away from MS is possible in more than one way.

mtgx2• 14 years ago

What if Nokia has a 5 year contract with Microsoft? Could they still end that somehow?

The patent thing actually makes it a very good acquisition target for Samsung as well.

niggler• 14 years ago

Funny that ALU is mentioned given that the ADR is trading near >10 year lows

tristan_louis7• 14 years ago

Which makes a deal with ALU even more likely if no cash has to change hands (ie. ALU gives APPL a large set of patents and get the networking business, making it either #1 or #2 in telecom as a result). That deal would probably bump ALU stock up.

aaronharnly• 14 years ago

Nice article. A formatting nit: Having link hovers italicize means that hovering a link reflows the entire paragraph.

Example: http://makeagif.com/i/6KTHGR

bbx• 14 years ago

And it's actually easy to end up in some infinite loop: http://i.imgur.com/IDR64.gif

tristan_louis7• 14 years ago

Good point. I need to fix that one someday... I'm trying to find a way to deal with hovers in a better way. Maybe I should get rid of the italics altogether in that case.

frozenport• 14 years ago

protomyth• 14 years ago

I doubt it would be allowed by the regulators, but buying Nokia also gives you a lot of connections in places Apple does not have.

tristan_louis7• 14 years ago

Apple could argue that they need to do it to counter the threat of Android. With all the claims of more Android devices being out in the market, it's an argument that could hold water with regulators and get such a deal approved as a result.

barredo• 14 years ago

Honest question: Will the EU commission even approve the acquisition?

Breakthrough• 14 years ago

Most likely not, so good question. All that went through my mind when I read the post title was "Why Apple should acquire [Some Company With Way Better Maps]"...

tristan_louis7• 14 years ago

Did you miss the part about patents? and mobile TV? and more patents? (oh yeah, and maps too :) )

tristan_louis7• 14 years ago

With all the noise about Android being the biggest player, Apple could make a claim that it is a defensive move before Google goes against them in court. This may get regulators to approve it.

lostlogin2• 14 years ago

Has Apple ever made any acquisition even a portion this size? It would be a pretty big difference between Jobs Apple and Cook Apple to make a purchase this big. Given that the likely targets would be maps and patents, the rest of the business wouldn't be of much value surely? But winding up a company Nokia's size would be a brutal hit that would inflict a lot of damage in many different areas - to Apple almost as much as Nokia I'd guess.

Edit: Auto predict. Sigh

tristan_louis7• 14 years ago

I think the NEXT acquisition, which brought Steve Jobs back, was in that neighborhood from a capabilities standpoint. From a dollar standpoint, you're right, it's substantially larger than what Apple has done in the past in terms of acquisitions.

ansy2• 14 years ago

Wouldn't it make more sense for Apple to buy TomTom or Waze before buying Nokia? TomTom is much cheaper and Apple already has a cozy relationship with it. Not to mention Nokia is already in bed with Microsoft.

NOK: $10B market cap TOM2: $800M market cap

Even then, TomTom comes with a lot of baggage. A savvy operations expert like Tim Cook would choke in disgust at the financial waste of such an acquisition.

Apple acquiring Waze makes the most sense. It only has 80 employees already in Palo Alto. It is still private and only has $67M in funding. Its only product is a mobile app. And its product is actually an advancement for navigation rather than stuck in the old world.

dpark3• 14 years ago

How would purchasing Waze address any of the perceived shortcomings of Apple Maps? And where does Waze currently get it mapping info? I kind of doubt that Waze has data sets that rival Google or Nokia, or even Tom Tom.

lobster_johnson2• 14 years ago

Waze is crowdsourced. So even if the original data comes from sources such as Tiger or OSM (which are known to be much worse than Google's), presumably data such as road vectors are continually tweaked from the driving data that the app collects. From the FAQ (http://www.waze.com/faq/):

    By simply driving with the app open on your phone, you passively
    contribute traffic and other road data that helps the Waze system
    to provide other Waze drivers with the most optimal route to their
    destination, including live traffic information. But you can also
    take a more active role by reporting on accidents, police traps,
    or any other hazards along the way, helping to give other users in
    the area a 'heads-up' about what's to come and contributing to the
    common good out there on the road.

    Some of the Waze community members with a passion for maps also
    take an even more active role by editing and updating the Waze
    map, itself. Most of the editing work is done on the Waze website,
    but some parts, such as the naming of streets, can be done through
    the application directly.

ralfd• 14 years ago

Plus a hostile takeover of Nokia would probably start a bidding war with Microsoft as white knight. That would cost way more than $10 Billion (if successful, which is a pretty big if).

But Apple doesn't need to buy Nokia. They could just license their mapping data like Amazon is doing.

potatolicious• 14 years ago

> "Plus a hostile takeover of Nokia would probably start a bidding war with Microsoft as white knight."

If I were in charge of Apple and more evil, I'd do it just for that. Start a bidding war with the intention to lose it - and force Microsoft into an extremely expensive acquisition that it would have no hope of properly managing or exploiting.

Then again, it would be a $10bn game of chicken...

mtgx2• 14 years ago

What's the point of switching one rival for the other? Just so they wake up after another 5 years that they need to give up on Nokia's maps, too?

lobster_johnson2• 14 years ago

According to Wikipedia, Waze is headquartered in Ra'anana, Israel. In Dec 2011 they had only 10 employees in Palo Alto.

hnriot• 14 years ago

Waze's product is dreadful, it looks like a kids game and the information is half way between a social network and a useful traffic information source. Contrast Waze with google's discreet color coded streets that show the same information and its clear why everyone loves google maps.

Mapping is an interesting area right now and Apple's poor performance in this area has opened a nice little market to fill useful maps for the average person, but Waze is not it. It would just be a waste of money for Apple to buy them.

jmspring2• 14 years ago

For Bay Area driving, Waze is very good for traffic conditions. That alone makes the app a winner for me.

Their routing information has it's quirks. But, don't down play that "kids game...social network" aspect for actual driving info. Have you actually used it for day to day commuting?

From a friend in Israel, it is even more useful and very much a loved app there.

tristan_louis7• 14 years ago

If it were only about maps, you may have a point on TomTom but I argue that it's much more than maps, if you read the article.

hayksaakian• 14 years ago

Apple won't want products, considered by the market as inferior, to carry any association to themselves.

jmspring2• 14 years ago

Nokia Maps as well as photo technology in their cell phones are considered quite highly. Nokia hardware is generally respected as well.

There are gems that Apple can mine.

thisismyname• 14 years ago

I actually think they should acquire a carrier like tmobile... They always say they want to control "the entire customer experience from hardware to software".

callumjones2• 14 years ago

Considering Apple is a global company, it wouldn't make sense to acquire the 4th largest carrier if all they get is some spectrum and nothing else.

How would T-Mobile (USA) help the iPhone across the board?

tnuc• 14 years ago

It would be like Google buying Excite.

callumjones2• 14 years ago

If the rumours are true about Nokia wanting to sell off their HQ in Finland, it seems Nokia is a bit desperate for money.

This could mean at some point (in the interests of getting some cash in the bank) Nokia could sell off their mapping division (NAVTEQ etc) to Apple.

Why Apple should acquire Nokia

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