Will Research in Motion, Nokia, or Apple outbid Google for Nortel's patent portfolio?
A new report claims that Waterloo's Research in Motion is pondering outbidding Google's $900-million offer for Nortel's stockpile of thousands of patents.
Google bid on the patents because it's a lot younger than many of its competitors such as Apple and Nokia, who have built up huge portfolios of patents over time.
In fact, RIM isn't the only party potentially interested in the patents, which include many valuable telecom ones: both Nokia and Apple are allegedly contemplating a competing bid.
If anyone does decide to challenge Google's currently lone bid, an auction must be held, which would occur in late June.
The inside sources in the report are confident that at least one company will come forth and outbid the Android maker, spurring an auction that will see the end price break the $1-billion mark.
Nortel's portfolio includes many LTE patents, a form of wireless which RIM has publicly praised and which Apple is rumoured to have big plans for.
