Could Microsoft’s Nokia takeover be the nail in the coffin for BlackBerry?

TORONTO – Microsoft announced late Monday that it had scooped up Nokia in a $7.2-billion deal that would give the tech giant control over Nokia’s manufacturing patents, along with its line-up of smartphones.

The deal marks a major step in the company’s push to rebrand itself.

Microsoft has been racing to catch up with customers who are growing increasingly attached to smartphones and tablet computers rather than the traditional PCs.

Read More: Nokia stock surges on Microsoft $7.2 billion takeover deal

But the news has some wondering whether the marriage between Microsoft and Nokia will be the nail in the coffin for Canadian smartphone-maker BlackBerry.

It may be due in part to the fact that BlackBerry was once rumored to be the apple of Microsoft’s eye when it came to upping its mobile business. But the Nokia deal has muted any suspicions that Microsoft would be buying the Waterloo, Ont.-based company that announced it was exploring “strategic alternatives,” including selling itself, just three weeks ago.

The Guardian‘s Charles Arthur suggests that this is very bad news for BlackBerry.

“It now has no buyer of last resort, which means it will have to try to go it alone – with a loss-making handset business, which it may dump in favour of becoming just a services and software company – or seek a distress buyer,” wrote Arthur in an article published Tuesday.

First Post‘s Sougata Ghosh notes that because Microsoft will gain access to Nokia’s patent portfolio and manufacturing facilities, it will further access to emerging markets where Windows Phone is already doing well.

“BlackBerry will be hit especially hard in emerging markets like Africa, India and Latin America, where it has a strong presence,” wrote Ghosh in an article published Tuesday.

“The deal therefore can be a body blow to BlackBerry, one from which they might not recover.”

Windows Phone has also been gaining in popularity, surpassing BlackBerry in market share.

According to market research firm IDC, Windows Phone shipments surpassed BlackBerry in the first quarter of 2013, bumping BlackBerry to fourth on its list of the top smartphone operating systems. Windows Phone currently sits in third place on the list, behind Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android.

IDC noted at the beginning of August that Windows Phone gained traction over BlackBerry, noting that Nokia was a driving force behind the Windows Phone platform.

ZD Net‘s Matthew Miller suggests that Microsoft and Nokia joining forces is taking away from what BlackBerry was known for.

“BlackBerry used to rule the enterprise and was able to do so in large part because they controlled the hardware, software, and backend servers,” read the article.

“With Nokia now a part of Microsoft and making the hardware along with providing the software and Exchange servers, Microsoft is making a case as the enterprise choice for mobile.”