Nokia tips hat to Apple, RIM

Nokia (NYSE: NOK) talked a bit about competitors today and was generally cool with throwing them a bone, while of course remaining confident in their own progress. For example, they respected RIM’s ability to work into the enterprise back-end while still claiming Nokia would overtake their numbers in the next couple of months thanks to a recent arrangement with Microsoft and Cisco. Similarly, Nokia CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo said of Apple (NSDQ: AAPL), “We have a new, credible competitor in this business. You know I need to take my hat off … Of course we need to be able to respond to any competitor and we will.” When it comes to a statement like that, you can’t help but take a look at the Tube and wonder if that’s supposed to be their answer to the iPhone.

In any case, that’s the classy way to talk about competition. When announcing their Q2 earnings, RIM rebuffed the idea that the iPhone posed any threat whatsoever, which some investors thought was ignorant and downright delusional. Despite decent growth numbers, RIM’s stock took a dive following the conference call, which was further compounded by the US stock market crash. It just goes to show that attitude towards competitors can say a lot about a company.

[via Reuters]