Nokia To Sell Their Phone Unit To Microsoft?

In an earlier post I talked about how Microsoft had no plans to include Nokia when it came to their tablet operating system but it seems that while they may not be interested in tablets, perhaps Microsoft might be interested in Nokia’s phone unit then?

This is apparently according to industry insider Eldar Murtazin, who has a proven track record of being able to to accurately disseminate intel, Nokia is set to begin discussing the possibility selling its cell phone business to Microsoft. If all of this is true, it seems that negotiations will be taking place next week, although the results of the negotiation will not be made public so soon.

Some have even managed to come up with the far-fetched idea that perhaps this was the reason why Stephen Elop was brought on to be Nokia’s new CEO, to help facilitate the sales of Nokia’s phone unit to Microsoft.  Now if this information is accurate it would mean that this has probably been in talks for quite a while already, which could also mean that Microsoft and Nokia working together to produce Windows Phone 7 devices could actually be a way for the Finnish phone manufacturer to transition Nokia’s phone unit into Microsoft’s control. Once again with all things rumored it’s best to be taken with a grain of salt.

*Update* It seems that this is indeed a rumor after all. Upon hearing and seeing the number of blogs and website that is currently spreading this rumor, Mark Squires, Communications Director for Nokia tweeted that this is indeed an inaccurate rumor.