As far as European Union is concerned, Microsoft can proceed and acquire Nokia’s mobile phone division. The European Commission has expectedly cleared the deal, saying that it would not raise any competition concerns.
In particular, the Commission concluded that there are only modest overlaps between the parties’ activities and the links between Microsoft’s mobile operating systems, mobile applications and enterprise mail server software with Nokia’s smart mobile devices are unlikely to lead to competitors being shut out from the market. Moreover, they said that several strong rivals, most notably Samsung and Apple, will continue to compete with the merged entity.
Yeah, we expected this to go smoothly as Windows Phone is still an underdog in the mobile space, with insignificant market share compared to market leading Android and iOS platforms. Going forward, however, we may be looking at a very different picture with Redmond giant putting millions (or even billions) to grow its presence, but that’s another story…