Nokia Acquires Norwegian Mobile OS Company “Smarterphone”

The Mobile handset giant Nokia has acquired a Norway based Smarterphone, a company which builds operating systems for basic cellphone (also known as feature phones in the industry). The acquisition was announced by Smarterphone’s Nordic investor parent, Ferd Capital which invested more than 6.5 million Euros ($8.3 million) in Smarterphone in since 2007

The acquisition was confirmed by a representative of Nokia but no details of the acquisition were revealed. The representative only said, “Nokia acquired Smarterphone AS a part of our Next Billion strategy”. Currently, Nokia has Microsoft’s Windows Phone platform for high-end smartphones while it has its own Symbian platform for low-end devices. It’s not clear yet about where Smarterphone’s operating system would fit in Nokia’s product portfolio.

smarterphone

According to Ferd, Smarterphone’s operating system is design allow basics phones with lower-end hardware to feel just like smartphones. This operating system allows the company to adjust the software according to different markets.

Nokia was once a leader in handset market is now finds itself trailing badly in the ever-growing smartphone market. Past week, there were rumors about a possible purchase of the Nokia smartphone division by Microsoft, but the company has adamantly denied it. Nokia UK said, “We’ve put these rumors to rest a long time ago. The focus for Nokia is on executing on our partnership around Windows Phone and growing the ecosystem, and each company has the tools they need to do so”.

The company has stuck to its original plan of launching Windows Phone. It has released two Windows Phone devices in selected countries and now plans a major launch effort in the United States. It is expected that company will be keeping a strong presence at the next week’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.  According to some reports, this is part of a $200 million marketing campaign which is directed towards the unreleased Lumia 900 device.