14 DAY TRIAL // As much as Nokia fans would have liked to see their favorite company launching a brand new smartphone after so many years, the Finnish giant has taken another route that might surprise many.
Today, Nokia has announced that it acquired Withings, a company that mainly manufactures smartwatches, fitness trackers, and other wellness digital equipment. The acquisition was made for around $191 million (€170 million), but it’s supposed to bring Nokia into a slightly untapped market, that of wearables.
According to Nokia’s President Rajeev Suri, the purchase is meant to strengthen his company’s position in the IoT (Internet of Things) “in a way that leverages the power of our trusted brand.”
Withings is a firm with about 200 employees, headquartered in France. Its employees are scattered around the globe, from Paris to Hong Kong, but many are located in the United States as well.
Its portfolio includes from activity trackers, weighing scales, thermometers, blood pressure monitors, to home and baby monitors and much more.
On top of that, Withings provides users with more than a hundred compatible applications that are meant to complement its products.
Nokia now has the money and the expertise to build successful wearables
It’s pretty clear that Nokia plans to enter a huge market of wearables, but how and when it will do that remains a mystery that will be solved in the next couple of months.
The good news is that, with Withings’ acquisition, Nokia got the expertise needed to build wearbales because it looks like the Finnish company plans to invest quite a lot of money in this market.
The deal will be settled in cash in early Q3, 2016, and it will be subject to regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions.
The question is whether or not Withings’ acquisition will push back Nokia’s plans to re-enter the smartphone market at the end of 2016.