Nokia Corporation (ADR) (NOK), Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) and the Research In Motion Ltd (BBRY) Target

The smartphone market is, to put it in straightforward terms, a mess. It’s new and immature with a lot of competing tech out there not working well together and hyperpartisan opinion-makers all screaming about this, that or the other thing. Again, it’s a mess.

There are a lot of players in the smartphone market; some have peaked, some are peaking, and some, who dropped a lot in the rankings, are trying to get back on top. That’s where the partnership between Nokia Corporation (ADR) (NYSE:NOK) and Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) comes in. A recent article indicates that Nokia is in partnership to try to knock over Research In Motion Ltd (NASDAQ: BBRY).

Coming right on the heels of what appears to be a successful launch of the BlackBerry Z10, that’s an ambitious goal for a phone developer that dropped from the top ranks long ago. But at Microsoft they certainly have a partner that is both motivated and has the muscle to promote the product. I’m surprised this sort of partnership hasn’t happened before.

Nokia

The fact that Nokia Corporation (ADR) (NYSE:NOK) is trying to win over the business smartphone market with it’s new Lumia phones is an interesting one. It also parallels Microsoft’s ‘win business’ attitude by packaging Excel, Word and PowerPoint onboard. It’ll be an interesting thing to see how well having those business apps on a phone motivates corporate buyers.

As for shares, Nokia Corporation (ADR) (NYSE:NOK) has been trending up, slowly, for several months. Since July it’s gone from $1.69 to $3.77. Double your money! And investors can get a lot of it for cheap! The firm had a good fourth quarter but is clearly still trying to find its way in the world. A 6.7% dividend helps make it attractive.

Microsoft

I love writing about Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) because no one ever thinks about them as a ‘hot’ tech firm. But they do very well. The focus on the appeal to the corporate and business world makes them suffer a bit in the minds of the average consumer. No one is ever going to mistake them for sexy. The magic of that is that the firm doesn’t care.

The firm’s stock trended down over the last year, maybe a bit more than 10%. Yet it’s operating margin for 2012 was 29.92% and it pays a 3.31% dividend. There’s still a lot to like about Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) if you can get past the whole public-perception thing. They do everything right to make money, and that’s what you should want in an investment.

BlackBerry

BlackBerry, formerly Research In Motion (sorta), is an interesting story. From what I’ve seen the launch of the BlackBerry Z10 is going well for the company. However, no one in their right minds can doubt that the firm was, not too long ago, given up for dead. It had been passed in the smartphone race by several competitors.

Still, since last September the firm’s stock is up more than 100%, climbing from $$6.305 to $13.50. However, a lot of that is speculative, in my opinion, on BlackBerry’s pulling off a real turnaround. While the firm turned an operating profit overall last year, for Q4 it’s margin was -8.42%. If a combination of Microsoft and Nokia has decided to target them, Research In Motion Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) will have some serious issues to deal with.