Deal Is Easy Part for Microsoft and Nokia

The odds are long that the Microsoft-Nokia deal can reverse the fortunes of two laggards in a cutthroat market.

Microsoft is wagering a purchase of Nokia's phone business will help the companies crack a problem they couldn't as partners: attain the dominant smartphone positions of Apple and Google. After nearly three years of working with Nokia, Microsoft is a distant No. 3 in smartphones world-wide, with its mobile software accounting for about 4% of the market compared with a combined 90% share for Apple and Google software. Nokia's smartphones make up a negligible share after commanding nearly half of the market before Apple's iPhone arrived. For Microsoft to make any headway, it must now create mobile devices that attract both consumers and business buyers, find its footing in hardware manufacturing and win over skeptical shareholders and app developers, all the while successfully integrating 32,000 Nokia employees with Microsoft's 100,000.