Finnish Giant, Nokia (NYSE:NOK) Getting Old in Finnland, Declares War against HTC
The Finnish mobile tycoon, Nokia Corporation (NYSE:NOK) which once designed more than half the smartphones all over the world and accounted for 4 percent of Finnish GDP, sponsored an award won by Rovio, one of the world’s two biggest mobile gaming companies along with local opponent Supercell, which in coming week launches a latest HQ at prior Nokia properties close to central Helsinki.
In a sector where many are hunting but few generate handsome money, Rovio’s leading game Angry Birds crossed a milestone with having billion customers all over the world, most of them having smartphones of Nokia’s archrivals Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Samsung.
With Nokia predicted to announce net losses of almost 5 billion euros for 2011 and 2012, and its smartphone market share now less than 5 percent, the gaming companies offer assure that Finland would regain its spot at the technology table.
Patent War against HTC
On the patent front, Nokia has called for a war on companion Windows Phone maker HTC, submitting 32 patent complaints versus the Taiwanese maker.
Just week after its continuous patent clash with Apple, Nokia has opened cannons at fellow Windows phone maker HTC, which has filed 32 different patent complaints next to the Taiwanese manufacturer. Nokia’s 32 objections with HTC would be spread through five locations in Germany and the US.
In the United States, Nokia (NOK) is charging HTC over 18 patents in Delaware, 8 of which are also being claimed at the ITC (where some additional restructuring would take place as Nokia guaranteed in a latest filing),’ Florian Mueller stated on his Foss Patents blog.
He further stated that Nokia is going to sue HTC over the German parts of 17 European patents (10 in Mannheim, 4 in Düsseldorf, 3 in Munich). Three patents are being claimed on both continents.’
By now, HTC pays out patent royalties to Microsoft and Apple, and it’s appearing highly sure that it would soon be paying over cash to Nokia (NOK), which would further trim comapny’s margins.
