Shares in mobile phone firm Nokia leapt 10 percent on Monday on hopes it can benefit from a setback to rival Samsung, which has lost a high-profile court case to Apple that could lead to an injunction against some of its products.<\/p>\n
A U.S. jury found South Korea’s Samsung Electronics copied critical features of Apple’s hugely popular iPhone and iPad and awarded the U.S. company $1.05 billion in damages.<\/p>\n
“In addition to Apple, we name Microsoft and Nokia as the main beneficiaries from this outcome,” said Nordea analyst Sami Sarkamies.<\/p>\n
Shares in Nokia were 10.2 percent higher at 2.746 euros by 0835 GMT. Microsoft’s European-listed shares were 1.6 percent higher.<\/p>\n
Nokia and its software partner Microsoft have been struggling to win ground from Samsung’s Android-powered smartphones which lead the market.<\/p>\n
Google’s Android is used in around 65 percent of smartphones sold globally, with Samsung the biggest maker of Android phones.<\/p>\n
Nokia has been fighting for survival after losing vast ground to Apple and Samsung. In 2011 it forged a software alliance with Microsoft, which had also fallen behind in smartphone software.<\/p>\n
Nokia is now the largest maker of Windows Phones, but the market share of the software has stayed at below 5 percent.<\/p>\n
“We think that the real winner hear will be Microsoft and the Windows Phone ecosystem,” Nomura analysts said in a note.<\/p>\n
“As Android and Apple tear each other apart, Microsoft has been waiting in the wings and is in a very good position to move in and entice users to switch from Android to Microsoft, as we have already seen that user loyalty is low,” they said.<\/p>\n
Nokia is expected to launch its first smartphones using a new version of Windows Phone software at an industry event in early September.<\/p>\n
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