If Huawei acquires Nokia, Windows Phone is doomed

Huawei’s Ascend P6 launch in London not only threw up a new device from the Chinese company, but also brought forward revelations that the company is mulling over a possible Nokia acquisition. 

Richard Yu, chairman of the Chinese company’s consumer business group, told the Financial Times that Huawei would consider buying Nokia in its bid to become the world’s leading smartphone maker. "We are considering these sorts of acquisitions; maybe the combination has some synergies but depends on the willingness of Nokia. We are open-minded," Yu said.

 

Yu believes that the smartphone market will eventually consolidate with three or four big players. Huawei’s plan is to be one of those companies. Ominously, if Huawei ever does acquire Nokia, it would be bad news for Microsoft and its Windows Phone platform. Yu called the platform “weak”, even though Huawei does have one Windows Phone smartphone, the Ascend W1. “Whether Windows Phone (will be) successful is difficult to say – it has a very small market share. That’s not good. Android is free,” Yu said, hinting that any WP8 devices that Nokia may have planned could be relegated to the sidelines if the acquisition does go through.

Nokia is by far the biggest backer for Microsoft’s platform and the success of its Lumia range of smartphones is to an extent a direct indicator of the climb of Windows Phone. In a way, the relationship between Nokia and Microsoft is symbiotic and any change in the status quo could end up damaging Microsoft’s mobile business quite a lot. For its part, Nokia has remained steadfast with Windows Phone ever since the two came together over two years ago, with CEO Stephen Elop also telling shareholdersthere’s no Plan B for the company beyond Windows Phone.