Consolidation

InformationWeek has suggested that there are reasons Nokia should buy Yahoo!. Five reasons, in fact. They suggest that Nokia needs a stronger desktop presence, that Yahoo would somehow combine with Navteq (recent Nokia acquisition) help cement Nokia's dominance of mobile location services, and that Yahoo could help Nokia grow its market share in North America, which is one of the few markets where it hasn't had much success lately.

Doesn't make a lot of sense to me. Nokia doesn't need any help in mobile location services, for one thing, and they're trying to build out their own desktop presence with Ovi. Nokia very much wants more success in the US, but I don't see that Yahoo would be that much help.

And the final reason I think it's a non-starter is that a Nokia-Yahoo combination wouldn't make any tools available on mobile devices that aren't already available. It just wouldn't do anybody any good.

Anyway, I'd be astonished if Nokia makes a bid for Yahoo. You read it here first!