Nokia could ask $1 billion in compensation for iPhone tech

Nokia filed a lawsuit last week, accusing Apple for infringing some 10 of its patents in technologies used in iPhones since the introduction of the popular device back in 2007.

With the success of the iPhone, Apple has managed to capture 15 per cent share of the smart phone market. However, the company still has limited intellectual property assets compared with rivals, when all vendors in the industry work under cross-licensing agreements.

Nokia is one of the key patent holders in mobile technologies, alongside Qualcomm and Ericsson.

According to Neil Mawston at Strategy Analytics, Apple could have to pay Nokia anything between $200 million and $1 billion for patents used in 34 million iPhones sold worldwide so far.

Ben Wood, research director at CCS Insight believes Nokia has a case against apple."It is almost inconceivable that someone can produce a mobile phone without using Nokia patented technologies," he said.

"Intellectual property licensing costs create a significant barrier for late entrants into the mobile phone space. As a result they become net payers to the big established players such as Ericsson, Motorola, Nokia and Qualcomm," Wood added.

Nokia is looking to reclaim some ground it lost to new smart phone entrants like Apple in the global handset market. In July-September Nokia saw its smart phone market share dropping to 35 per cent from 41 per cent in the previous quarter.