Microsoft's mobile ambitions are taking a new turn with rumors that the company is looking to buy Nokia's phone business. While the two companies have partnered in the past, bringing Bing to Nokia devices, the acquisition stands to make Microsoft a more formidable force in the mobile market.
Business Insider reports that Nokia is expected to go into negotiations about selling its phone unit to Microsoft this week. The news provider references a reliable Russian mobile blogger as the source of this information.
This is one of many recent mobile forays for Microsoft. As Brafton reported earlier this month, the company partnered with RIM to make Bing the default search engine on all BlackBerry devices.
Microsoft's mobile efforts may be an attempt to take on Google. In addition to gaining ground in mobile search, the company's rumored purchase of Nokia may help it develop a product to take on Android devices. Plus, the company acquired Skype last week on the heels of news that Google was interested in purchasing the web video conferencing platform.
Internet marketers will want to monitor Microsoft (and other) mobile developments and plan search campaigns accordingly. The latest State of Search Report from the Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization indicates that the rise of the mobile internet has hada significant impact on SEO in the past year.
