Economics Readings Site By Colin Ong

This blog has been created to provide an area for economics students to read about how economics impacts daily life. It is especially useful for students to understand the application of macroeconomics as communicated through the media and governmental websites.

This online resource has been set up for educational purposes.All rights are reserved by the various websites.

For further clarification, please email colin@mrmc.com.sg

Business Times - 23 Oct 2009

Nokia could seek up to US$1 bln for iPhones: analysts

HELSINKI - Apple faces the possibility of having to pay the world's top cellphone maker Nokia up to US$1 billion for the technologies used in iPhones sold so far if it loses a lawsuit brought by Nokia, analysts said.

Nokia filed the suit in the United States on Thursday, saying Apple had infringed 10 patents and accusing the iPhone maker of trying to hitch a 'free ride' on Nokia's technology investment.

Apple, a latecomer to the cellphone industry, has won a considerable share of the higher end of the market, but it has limited intellectual property assets compared with rivals, when all vendors work under cross-licencing agreements.

Neil Mawston at Strategy Analytics said Apple could have to pay Nokia anything between US$200 million and US$1 billion for patents used in 34 million iPhones shipped so far.

The analysts said Nokia has a case to claim such sums as it is one of the key patent holders in mobile technologies, alongside Qualcomm and Ericsson.

'It is almost inconceivable that someone can produce a mobile phone without using Nokia patented technologies,' said Ben Wood, research director at CCS Insight.

An Ericsson spokesman said on Friday the company has a licencing deal with Apple.

Nokia said in its court filing it had made several price offers to Apple on per patent and on portfolio basis, but the US firm had declined those.

The analysts said top vendors who have been in the industry for a long time usually pay a few per cent of their revenue as royalties, but new entrants could pay more than 10 per cent of sales price to IPR holders.

'Intellectual property licencing costs create a significant barrier for late entrants into the mobile phone space. As a result they become net payers to the big established players such a Ericsson, Motorola, Nokia and Qualcomm,' CCS Insight's Wood said.

Nokia dominates the global handset market but it has lost some ground to new smartphone entrants like Apple, which entered the market with its iPhone in mid-2007.

Nokia's previous major legal battle ended last year with a one-time payment of 1.7 billion euros US($2.55 billion) to US mobile chipmaker Qualcomm as part of a patent agreement with Qualcomm. -- REUTERS