Jean-Louis Gassée speculating:
>And there is Nokia’s chosen partner, Microsoft. What will Nokia’s failure do to its future? Ballmer knows Microsoft can’t be relegated to a inconsequential role in the smartphone wars. Will this lead to Microsoft going “vertical”, that is buying Nokia’s smartphone business and become an vertically player, as it already is in its Xbox business?

Ever since Elop (former Microsoft exec) was appointed CEO of Nokia I had this thought in the back of my head: what if Elop was sent to Nokia to set the company up for an eventual take over by Microsoft? Elop partnered with Microsoft to ship Windows Phone 7 — that seemed like a move towards this thought. Now though? What if Microsoft just didn’t want to pay for what Nokia *was* worth and instead needed it devalued? Hmmm.

This is not likely the case, as it would be a massive scandal, but still should Microsoft buy Nokia I will forever hold this speculation of my restless mind to be the truth.