No Deal with Microsoft, says Nokia

Los Angeles, Jun 2: Nokia users out there, here is the big cheering news for you. Your company is not going to be acquired by Microsoft! The Finnish phone maker Nokia rejected rumours describing the alleged takeover by software giant Microsoft.

While speaking at the D9 Conference, Nokia CEO Stephen Elop said that the "rumours are baseless." Elop said that there had been no takeover discussion with Microsoft and the company is planning to increase its business with the upcoming Nokia smartphones running on Windows Phone 7 platform.

"There's absolutely no discussion. The rumours are baseless. It is as clear as that," Elop said.

Commenting on reports that he had been placed at Nokia by Microsoft in Sep 2010 as a "Trojan horse" to prepare the world's largest mobile phone maker Nokia for a takeover, Elop said that Trojan horse theory has been well overplayed.

Earlier in this week, some technology blogs, citing an industry insider, reported that Microsoft was planning to acquire Nokia for $19 billion. Following the reports, Nokia shares witnessed steep decline in the market.

In Feb 2011, Microsoft and Nokia signed a "broad strategic partnership" in which Nokia will use Microsoft's windows Phone 7 platform as its primary operating system for upcoming smartphones. Nokia smartphones running on WP7 will be available in the market by 2012.

OneIndia News