Nokia And Facebook Working On Mobile Deal; Could Involve Investment

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Nokia And Facebook Working On Mobile Deal; Could Involve Investment

[by David Kaplan and Rafat Ali] Nokia (NYSE: NOK) and Facebook are working on porting the social network on to Nokia handsets in a major way, we have learned. The Facebook placement could be as prominent as the YouTube button on the main screen of iPhone, our sources indicate. Also, the deal involves giving Facebook a major slot within Nokia retail products’ displays.

But another factor elevates this beyond just-another-social-net-on-a-phone deal: Our sources have indicated that the discussions have involved Nokia purchasing a stake in the company, but these are in very early stages. This makes sense in light of Facebook’s recent strategic funding by Sawmer Brothers, in an effort to expand in Europe. The Nokia-Facebook deal would give the social network instant big-time mobile distribution: Nokia is the world’s largest maker of mobile phones. More after the jump…

A senior Nokia executive, speaking on background, declined to go into details about the pact with Facebook: “There is talk of a partnership in the works… it’s safe to say we’re testing the waters and things still have to be worked out.” E-mails and phone calls seeking comment on the deal from Nokia and Facebook representatives were not returned.

Nokia has of late been working on a slew of services for the mobile, including its mobile web service Ovi, its mobile social network Mosh (which hasn’t really rocked the world since its launch last year), and its recent spate of acquisitions in the larger media applications space. In October last year, it bought digital mapping provider Navteq for $8.1 billion to eventually offer customers location-based services. Also in October, it announced a deal to provide a year’s free access to Universal’s music catalog on some Nokia phones. And it bought three other smaller companies last year: Avvenu (file sharing on mobiles and between mobile-PC); Twango (media sharing service for about $100 million); and Enpocket (mobile advertising and marketing services).

Would be interesting to see how Nokia’s own social media efforts pan out versus this deal it is working on with Facebook…

David Kaplan

@davidaKaplan Jan 20, 2008 5:46 PM ET

Posted In: Mobile, Exclusive, Companies, Facebook

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vural

thanks..

http://kabinci.blogcu.com

Cory

When the hell are they going to release this Facebook app already? I've had my E71 since last August (2008) and I can't understand what the effn delay is!

samsung ln26b360

This is worst idea of Nokiaâ¦.Nokia can do better with oue Facebook alliance.

Business Reviews

I think that could be a great start to something that could be very popular among Nokia users.

Breaking news

Yeh they do spend alot, you would think based on that they would have better phones and products.

Devin T. - Harlem 6 - Wu Tang

Holy crap, Nokia spends a lot of money. Research departments should be making technology, but they are just buying it up instead. I guess it's smart not to re-invent the wheel, but it definitely isn't as fun to buy stuff up than to make it yourself. :)

trusted answers

This would be great if it happened.

chicago web design

I cant wait for the new app to come out.

iphone questions

That would be amazing if they were to do that deal. I think it would open up a new era with phones.

Cheap Mobile Phones

That was a good news..but where is the deal now headed. please keep informing about these kind of deals.

Web Design Company

Waoo great post!

guitar courses

I think this is one of the smartest things mobile phone providers could do, and indeed, the idea seems to have stood the test of time, as I am seeing mobile providers advertising facebook an myspace integration quite regularly now. I think these sort of social network sites have proven their here to stay and as another form of online communication provide a perfect match to mobile providers.

Nokia Company Profile

I can't find anything that really says what came of this…

Newark Ohio Business Listings

What ever came of this collaboration? Did Nokia eventually invest? Anyone?

Web Development Company

This is a great strategic move and will increase the market share for Nokia and popularity for Facebook

Nokia N95

It will rock the market of nokia mobile phones…..............

Mobile Phone

Facebook on Nokia!!!!! If it is true, than it will be the best combination ever. Both are the leaders in their field. This effort of joining mobile industry with social networking is really great.

proje

This is worst idea of Nokia…. Professional photoshop projects
Nokia can do better with oue Facebook alliance.

photoshop

If Nokia has a stake in Facebook then there is considerably more incentive to give them better placement on the handset deck than FB currently enjoys on Blackberry.

Dan Carbonneau

For thoses out there who don't want to wait, you can install a 3rd party Facebook application on your phone now. MobileFacebook is the first Facebook mobile application for phone. Works on nokia, motorola and samsung + others.

http://www.mobilefacebook.net

The functionality is still primitive but you can view your friends, events, update your status and send notifications.

Amjad

nokia could really embed facebook into the mobile world. ex. friends in your area; upload directly to fb or other stuff like that

alan jones

Daisy, it could be bigger for Facebook because FB's core market is still college students, and Blackberries are more of a corporate handset. Nokia's big in US college campuses, but probably not as big as Motorola and SonyEricsson though.

If Nokia has a stake in Facebook then there is considerably more incentive to give them better placement on the handset deck than FB currently enjoys on Blackberry.

But Nokia's other agenda may be to use FB to promote the use of new apps that are only compatible with their newest, high-end handsets. That could be bad for FB because that would be a smaller still slice of the US college market.

All speculation, of course. Let's see if a deal eventuates and if so, what they disclose about the terms.

Daisy Whitney

So this would be a lot bigger than the Facebook link that's on Blackberries now for instance?

Staci D. Kramer

Marek—Facebook is already mobile. The interface varies but I routinely do my updates from my handset.

Vijay Kumar Mandava

This is worst idea of Nokia….Nokia can do better with oue Facebook alliance.

Desire

If Nokia purchases a stake in Facebook, the company will join Microsoft and Hutchinson Whampoa…
Hutchinson Whampoa owns Three, the mobile network provider which has struck an alliance with Ebay and Skype.
Nokia is also the preferred provider of mobile phones for Three.
What does that mean? Expect Facebook to turn up on Three Mobiles pretty soon indeed.

Vspot

This is not surprising news, too bad for Yahoo, though!

Srikanth

Owning content and channel through which the content is delivered seems to be a winning combination. however the strategy is not complete without total / partial participation from service providers. Nokia should also look to own a stake with some or most of the prominent service providers. It could be mutual benefit deals.
Apart from business perspecitive
1. Delivering a rich user expereince with device R&D;is also a challenge which Nokia can't escape with above strategy
2. There is no point buying many companies with similar or over lapping business products. Nokia should only look to make friends(or eliminate) prominent leaders in those service areas with its strong position in Handset market
-Srikanth Bogadapati

Marek

Wonder how they fit the UI on a small mobile screen… They really have to do some major redesign. Good for Nokia though, and propably for Facebook too.