Nokia Corporation (ADR) (NYSE:NOK) and Research in Motion Ltd. (NASDAQ:BBRY) – er, BlackBerry Ltd. – are fighting for its very smartphone lives, as the handset market for smartphones is being dominated by the duopoly of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., which take up the majority of the market. Specifically, the iOS and Android operating system by Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) make up about 90 percent of the overall OS marketplace in smartphones.
While there isn’t much room for third place in smartphones, Nokia Corporation (ADR) (NYSE:NOK) is certainly looking to take advantage of its relationship with Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) and the Windows Phone OS to leverage a bigger share of the market place – and is apparently taking a strategic tack to directly go after Research in Motion Ltd. (NASDAQ:BBRY) and its BlackBerry OS, which has been popular in the policitcal and financial classes over the years despite its overall market share plummeting.
With many corporate IT divisions using Windows in its enterprise environment, Nokia Corporation (ADR) (NYSE:NOK) is banking on that loyalty to Windows and Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) will help the Finland-based handset company to surpass BlackBerry in the overall marketplace. It was reported that Nokia Lumia handsets surpassed 4.4 million units in the fourth quarter of 2012, which was about three-fourths of the Windows Phone sales. Research in Motion Ltd. (NASDAQ:BBRY) BlackBerry smartphones made up more than 7 million units, which was a little more than 3 percent of the market.
How important is No. 3 for both smartphone companies? “The importance of winning the business audience on a scale of 1 to 10 is easily an 11,” said Ramon Llamas, an IDC research analyst. Llamas expects that Windows Phone by Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) will surpass Research in Motion Ltd. (NASDAQ:BBRY) BlackBerry as the No. 3 operating system among smartphones, with Nokia Corporation (ADR) (NYSE:NOK) being the beneficiary of most of the improvement.
Could Nokia Corporation (ADR) (NYSE:NOK) improve its standing by making an acquisition run at Research in Motion, Ltd. (NASDAQ:BBRY)?
