Last year there were some talks between Nokia and French telecoms and mobile company “Alcatel Lucent; at the height of the rumors it was said that Nokia was considering buying out Alcatel’s wireless division of networks (to merge with NSN). Now it seems analysts have reconsidered the deal as a true possibility now that Nokia have done off with their devices and services division, as a way to fill the gaps left behind by the sale. Nokia’s new CEO Rajeev Suri went on record saying that Nokia might consider some small acquisitions to fill these gaps, and some people think Alcatel might be the solution.
Alcatel have a number of Android devices on the market, such as the OneTouch (seen above); however they’re more popular in Asia than North America, but the real question is would Nokia want to re-enter the mobile business? Especially since the Devices sector of Nokia was the only division that wasn’t making any profits (when compared to NSN and HERE). The other factor is the deal Nokia made with Microsoft that stopped them from creating any mobile devices with the Nokia name for the next 5 years; however would acquiring Alcatel as a subsidiary be a work around for that? Or perhaps Microsoft would let it slide if they committed to make WP devices?
Either way this is just one analysts take on the Nokia situation, and it is largely dependant on how Alcatel’s performance shapes up; as they’ve been constantly loosing money for a while now, and have already started with the round of layoffs. But one can hope and dream right?