Nokia Corporation (ADR) (NOK), Apple Inc. (AAPL): A Fallen Star

The company, for example, is starting to venture into China. Although that effort hasn’t been nearly as smooth as Apple might like, it is an important emerging market and Nokia Corporation (ADR) (NYSE:NOK) won’t be happy with the added competition. In fact, if Apple can crack that single market, it would solidify its growth prospects for at least the next few years. That means that you need to watch China closely if you own, or are considering buying, Apple shares.

Nokia needs to start looking at a competitively priced version of the Lumia designed for emerging markets.

The big winner

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) looks likely to be the big winner. For example, it is partnering with Nokia Corporation (ADR) (NYSE:NOK) and other companies in emerging markets. It’s working to educate consumers via smartphone training classes and helping to build phones specifically designed for emerging markets. That should help give it a toehold in these key growth regions.

It also has the chance to push into the big leagues with a competitive mobile OS, particularly since many expect Google to start selling handsets of its own. The close tie between Microsoft’s mobile OS and its new Windows OS is further enticement.

Microsoft’s long depressed shares have a lot more going for them than Nokia Corporation (ADR) (NYSE:NOK)’s shares right now. While both companies face notable business risk, Nokia is much closer to a life and death situation. Nokia has stated that it is going to fight back in emerging markets, but the company still has bigger issues to deal with than Microsoft.

In fact, with Google’s shares reaching elevated levels and investors continuing to be concerned about Apple’s ability to keep growing, Microsoft may actually be the best option in the mobile space on a risk adjusted basis for those seeking a turnaround play

The article Bad Luck Number 13 originally appeared on Fool.com and is written by Reuben Brewer.

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