MS won't buy Nokia, they do not need the patents, have a committed OEM in them already and now, not buying an OEM, is going to be a comparative advantage for MS vis a vis Googorola & Apple.

BTW, Nokia is up almost 12% today in pre day trading, back to mid june levels.

He actually has a point, google can do whatever they want as motorola with their phones, no restriction whatsoever so it might get other manufacturers thinking about putting all their eggs in the android basket so it might mean some good news for meego.

Just a note, This takeover happened quite soon after motorola announced that they are developing a mobile Linux based OS on their own.

I can't really see any good reasons why MS would buy Nokia, as Nokia is already in bed with MS and won't get away from there for a while. Nokia's patents might be such reason, but MS seems to have quite good patent portfolio already now (at least based on all of these news about law suits, patent agreements and so on).

Just my 0.02€...

Sounds good, but when has having enough of anything ever stopped MSFT going after more?

I don't think Google wanted a manifacturer. They just needed a way to defend against MS and Apple and what better chance than this??? I mean Motorola?? They probably have the patent for the cell phone or something like that . And their not so stupid as to alienate HTC, Samsung etc. IMO this is just checkmate on companies that instead of trying to make a decent mobile OS try to block others from offering theirs. Yes Stephen you know who I am talking about

$12.5 Billion for some patents. Let's see how they pay off in the future. I just think that's a tad bit much just to fight off this patent trolling that Microsoft, Oracle and Apple are all doing right now.

Well considering how hard android was being hit. And these aren't just any patents we are talking about the guys that made the first cell phone.

I still think Google sees all the money Apple, Samsung, etc. is making on hardware and would like a piece of that pie. Increased control over Android is part of it. But no doubt patents and the ability to defend Android partners with them was a huge factor.

But my original question was more this: will Google buying Moto Mobile put pressure on MS to actually buy Nokia and put the Microsoft name on phones to try to make WP7 more marketable, particularly in NA where the Nokia name is weak? IOW, the names 'Nokia' and 'WP7' are both weak in the smartphone arena, but 'Microsoft' is still a strong brand worldwide and especially in NA. So would MS buy Nokia to just use that Microsoft brand strength to improve WP7 chances of success?

Call me crazy but I think they might, especially since MS has long been a hardware company. And they've succeeded in making Nokia more affordable.

Then again, there was the Kin...

Its fun with all those amateur analyses on TMO!

No one beleived Nokia would go WP7 last year. Now exacly the same happens when people dont believe Microsoft will buy Nokia. Its seems many of us(including myself) is to blind, In hope it wont happen...

So Now i give my amateur analyse IMHO it may very well happen in desperation...

Google buying Motorola could be bad for both Microsoft and Nokia.

Now Google can fight patents same way as Apple and Nokia/Microsoft is doing it.

I must say its kinda fun se what the hell will happen. The mobile market is VERY big bussiness for all involved.

But at the same way its even more bad for Meego and N9 future now :-(

That is also a valid point. One thing which has been also mentioned several times in various news sources today, is that Nokia's patent portfolio is very cheap at the moment as share price has been very low. At least when compared to what Google is willing to pay for Moto's shares. Some estimates said that price for Nokia's shares should be around 8 times the current one, if Google's bid is used as reference. But I guess that the truth is not so straightforward.

Oh well, let's see what happens. As they say, we are living interesting times...