Earlier this month, rumors emerged claiming that Microsoft had offered to buy Nokia's mobile phone division for $19 billion. It turns out that Microsoft may not be the only company interested in snapping up Nokia, though, as the current "market speculation" is that Samsung may be interested in making a bid for the Finnish firm. Neither Samsung nor Nokia was willing to comment on the matter, although Canalys analyst Pete Cunningham doesn't see much value in Samsung snapping up Nokia because "the two companies are on quite different trajectory paths." "Samsung has seen tremendous growth and is launching new pads trying to target Apple," Cunningham said, "whereas Nokia is clearly going backwards losing market share very quickly. I don't see a lot of value in Samsung acquiring Nokia."

Although this news is still a rumor and, as such, should be taken with a few grains of salt, Samsung purchasing Nokia would make for a pretty interesting move. Samsung has already released a few Windows Phone 7 devices around the world and Nokia is currently hard at work on crafting its own WP7 products, but the two companies coming together could result in some enticing hardware and could have quite an effect on Microsoft's mobile platform. What do you all think of the possibility of Samsung snapping up Nokia? Would it be a good move for Samsung?

Via BGR, The Wall Street Journal