As Nokia Struggles, Is It Microsoft Bound?

Eldar Murtazin, Russian tech blogger and analyst, said Nokia and Microsoft are trying to strike up a deal where the latter would buy the former's cell phone business for $19 billion. Nokia has adamantly denied the report, saying it is 100 percent baseless, while Microsoft refused to comment. Murtazin maintains his report is accurate.

Why Nokia stuff so angry about me today? If my facts baseless, then why you so angry? I think that you want better price, yeah? :), Murtazin tweeted.

Murtazin has been accurate before on Nokia business dealings. He correctly predicted Nokia and Microsoft would strike up a deal in the first place, when the latter announced it was using Windows Phone 7 for all future smartphones.

It hasn't been a good month for Nokia. The company recently said it could no longer appropriately provide annual revenue targets for 2011 because of a change to its devices and services net sales for the upcoming quarter.

Nokia did not give an exact number, but said it expects its devices and services net sales to be substantially lower than the initial projection of EUR 6.1 billion to EUR 6.6 billion for the second quarter 2011. This, the company said, is due to lower than expected average selling prices and mobile device volumes.

The company said it is taking immediate actions to address the issues in its device and services business, including continuing investments into Symbian, cutting prices on smartphones and shipping out dual-SIM card devices. In addition, the company said it was pleased with its progress on Windows Phone and maintains the first Nokia based Windows Phone product will come out later this year.

Strategy transitions are difficult. We recognize the need to deliver great mobile products, and therefore we must accelerate the pace of our transition. Our teams are aligned, and we have increased confidence that we will ship our first Nokia product with Windows Phone in the fourth quarter 2011,  Stephen Elop, president and CEO of Nokia, said in a statement.

Nokia's stock took a massive hit with the news, going to roughly $8.20 per share to $6.68 per share. It is now trading at its lowest level in 13 years.

Follow Gabriel Perna on Twitter at @GabrielSPerna