Microsoft Might Be Next to Buy Device Maker: Analyst
Special to CNBC.com
Google's plan to buy Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billionis the search company's "attempt to replicate Apple's business model, and that means getting much more vertically integrated," said Tavis McCourt, managing director at Morgan Keegan.
"There's not much of a business model for selling third-party operating systems in the mobile world. The only way to monetize your investment is to buy devices," he told CNBC Monday.
That is what McCourt expects Microsoft to do.
If Microsoft wants to buy a company that makes devices that run its operating system, the obvious first choice would be Nokia , with which Microsoft already has a relationship, McCourt said. Nokia also has the best patent portfolio in the industry, he said, but the company has been losing market share around the world.
Research In Motion, meanwhile, doesn't have the patent portfolio of Nokia, but the BlackBerry maker does have a niche in the enterprise market, as well as a proprietary application with its BlackBerry Messenger system that might interest Microsoft, he added.
WATCH:McCourt explains why he thinks Wall Street is missing the story on Research In Motion.
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Disclosures:
Disclosure information was not available for Travis McCourt or his company.
