TEXT OF INTERVIEW

Steve Chiotakis: Mobile phone-maker Nokia, the world’s biggest, has filed a legal challenge against Apple, alleging intellectual property abuse. A federal lawsuit claims Apple infringed on 10 Nokia patents since it entered the mobile market in 2007. Andrew Ward writes for the Financial Times. He broke the story and he’s with us live this morning from Stockholm, Sweden, to talk about it. Hi Andrew.

Andrew Ward: Hi there. Morning. How are you?

Chiotakis: I’m doing well. Specifically, what technology are we talking about here?

Ward: We’re talking about the smartphone, and this is devices like the iPhone and the Blackberry, which double as a phone and a mini-computer. And, of course, this is the direction that the whole industry is going. The mobile-phone market has declined for the first time in its history this year with sales down about 7 percent, but the smartphone segment is the one bit of the industry that is growing. And of course Apple with the iPhone, and Research In Motion with the Blackberry are increasingly coming to dominate it.

Chiotakis: Now Apple’s been pretty tough on others when it comes to its patents. What are they saying to its claims?

Ward: Well Apple hasn’t responded to the lawsuit, but yes it’s been aggressive in defending its own technology, specifically against Palm — threatening legal action against them. So Nokia, I guess here, is trying to say, “Wait a minute. We’ve developed a lot of the underlying wireless technology that supports advanced mobile phones. You’re not paying us a license fee. You’ve sold 30 million iPhones since you’ve entered the market in 2007, and we want a share of the revenues.”

Chiotakis: Yeah. Well Andrew Ward, we do appreciate you talking to us this morning. Andrew Ward from Stockholm, Sweden. Thanks.