I see stuff like this happen every time when a company is on the brink of bankruptcy and is looking for extra revenues. They become desperate when other companies are becoming a lot more competitive than they are, and since they can’t compete or innovate as well as others anymore, they go the ligitation route, and try to sue the newcomers into oblivion with whatever they’ve got.
The sad thing about this is that the patent system was supposed to protect the newcomers, and not give former leaders of the market monopoly over technologies, so others can’t innovate anymore. But since Nokia is trying to take full advantage of this corrupt patent system, I’d say they are trying to become a full patent troll. I can’t say I didn’t expect this, though. It was actually one of the things I feared most when Microsoft allied with them.
I knew that Microsoft would get them to use all their mobile patents against Android. Nokia is no longer a company thinking for itself anymore. It has all but been assimilated by Microsoft management through tricks like replacing a lot of their top management with “former” Microsoft employees (i.e. people who quit Microsoft so they can work at Nokia). So you can expect that whatever Nokia is doing these days is actually Microsoft’s will.
Nokia is now accusing Google and Asus of infringing on their Wi-Fi patents, and wants a cut of the $200 tablet, for which Google has said it’s not making any profit. I doubt Google and Asus will accept to pay Nokia, so we’ll probably see this turn into a lawsuit as well. The surprising thing about all of this, is that Nokia is not realizing how flawed this strategy of theirs is. Haven’t they seen how many Android users hate Apple for wanting to ban their favorite Android devices, and how are even trying to start a massive boycott against Apple? I even see a lot of Apple users being upset with Apple over this and wanting to convert to Android.
So what exactly is Nokia trying to achieve here? Android and iOS are dominating the smartphone world right now. Do they think that they can win over Android users and converting them to Nokia devices by suing their favorite companies right now? Because if they do, I think they need to reevaluate that strategy.
People will remember Nokia for this, and Nokia is not in a position where they shouldn’t care about this. They need as much goodwill as possible from the public. Unfortunately, as long as they take their orders from Microsoft, they won’t be acting with act with common sense, and they will most likely ramp up their patent accusations against Android makers in the future.