New owner, same problems

In case you haven't heard, Microsoft surprised very few people tonight when it announced that it would purchase all relevant mobile-related parts of and license patents from Nokia for about $7.17 billion (€5.44 billion). Much has already been said (and will continue to be said) about the specifics of the deal, but it's interesting to think about how this purchase will affect Google and the numerous manufacturers of Android handsets.

In terms of market share, Nokia absolutely dominates the Windows Phone. You can see it in commercials and advertising, from carriers to Microsoft itself, Nokia is the premier brand for Windows Phone. Though the scales are dramatically different, this is analogous to Google purchasing Samsung's mobile handset division (and probably Sony and LG on top of that). With one small purchase — Nokia will cost Microsoft less than it paid to acquire Skype — Microsoft has just taken for all intents and purposes the entire Windows Phone marketplace into its own hands again.

Although they are overwhelmingly focused on building Android devices, major manufacturers like Samsung and HTC have been dabbling in making Windows Phone handsets for the past couple of years. It made sense for these OEMs to diversify at least slightly to ensure that they didn't have every single egg in one basket when it came to operating systems.