Nokia notched up a rare victory against arch-rival Apple as the iPhone maker agreed to settle a long-running row over patents. Nokia said on Tuesday the deal would boost second-quarter earnings, having warned at the end of May that it would miss targets.
Shares in the struggling cellphone maker rose 3 percent. Analysts welcomed the news and said it would help Nokia concentrate on core business at a time when it faces huge challenges. "This is the first positive news from Nokia for a long time. They can both focus on their businesses now, and the dispute was settled to Nokia's advantage," said Mikael Rautanen, analyst at Inderes in Helsinki. Analysts said Nokia could be estimated to get between 1 and 2 percent of iPhone revenues, which are seen at around $43 billion this year according to a Reuters poll.
The figures demonstrate that while Nokia may have won a legal victory, it still faces a daunting task to catch up with Apple in the high end of the smartphone market, where it has fallen behind both Apple's iPhone and Google Inc's Android devices. Earlier this week Nomura forecast Nokia would lose its position as the world's largest smartphone maker this quarter to Samsung Electronics and that Apple would surpass it next quarter.