None. Ok, very little. Probably less that they were having before they concluded a deal for Microsoft to acquire Nokia’s device business. Why? It’s simple folks, anti-trust law. With the caveat that I’m not a lawyer let me explain the bizarre situation that Microsoft and Nokia are now in.

Under U.S. (and probably other national) anti-trust law two companies that are in the process of a merger or acquisition must continue to operate under the assumption that the combination will not be approved until such time as they receive regulatory approval. The only join activity that is allowed is planning. So they can discuss organizational structure. They can work on answers to all kinds of integration issues. They can discuss what a post-merger product family might look like. But Nokia can not change its actual plans based on the discussions with Microsoft.

This is important because of rumors that, for example, Microsoft has tried to get Nokia to cancel its rumored Lumia 2520 Windows RT tablet. After all, Microsoft doesn’t need to have two 10″ class Windows RT 8.1 tablets in the market at the same time, which is where they will find themselves post-acquisition. But if Nokia were to cancel the 2520, for any reason at this point, the regulatory agencies would swoop in to try to uncover any indication that this was done at the behest of Microsoft. And if it was, then there would be hell to pay. From delays to even denial of merger approval. And fines.

The real perversion here is that joint activities that were ok prior to the acquisition agreement are now suspect! Whereas Microsoft could have told partner-Nokia “hey, we’re going to deemphasize ARM for a couple of years so we think shipping the 2520 will harm your reputation” that same statement to acquisition-pending-Nokia, if Nokia took action on it, would cause regulatory hell. Even some activities that the two were pursuing, or planning to pursue going into the launch of GDR3 or even WP8.1, might get scaled back as lawyers advise that they might now invite regulatory scrutiny.

One way to think of the current state of affairs is that the Microsoft/Nokia relationship is actually now a little less special! Of course that will change once the regulators rule on the acquisition.