BARCELONA, Spain — So my week here is nearly done at the Mobile World Congress. Time to reflect on the most interesting, surprising, consequential, controversial or quirky thing I have seen, heard or learnt.

And in the end it is not — at least not immediately — connected to Long Term Evolution (LTE) or femtocells, and thank goodness I hear you say.

The most interesting development, is one that we hinted at some time ago when we asked in November Could Nokia really buy chips from Qualcomm?. Even then a plot was likely being hatched in non-descript intellectual property and licensing lawyers' offices in San Diego, California, and Espoo, or Helsinki.

The answer yes came at this show with Qualcomm Inc. and Nokia Oy saying they would nuzzle up to each other. The Finnish handset maker is set to develop high-end 3G phones that will use the latest baseband chips from Qualcomm, those that are capable of the kind of data rates we hacks in the MWC press room can only dream of but might just get in three years using our HSPA, HSPA+ and maybe even LTE dongles or smartphones.

Actually, the terms of engagement are not quite clear-cut, but this could be because some lawyers insisted on a prenuptial clause. The wording in the official release is that Nokia is "pleased to be in discussions with Qualcomm" about using the MSM8xxx and 7xxx chipsets in some of its next generation phones. So the wedding is planned the flowers have been ordered but the blushing Finnish bride is keeping her options open.

And since the Finns do love a party, lots of guests have been invited to attend the celebrations. Nokia has also extended its pact with Broadcom to include basebands for 3G; Broadcom is already a major baseband supplier for 2G handsets, while that other newlywed ST-Ericsson will get a slice of the action for application processors in next generation 3G handsets and smartphones that use Nokia's S60 platform and thus the Symbian operating system.

The pact refers to a chip from ST-Ericsson that uses its Nomadik applications processor and integrates the latest in symmetrical multiprocessing courtesy of the dual-core capable Cortex-A9 processor from ARM Holdings plc.

But the most intriguing part of this lovefest is the partnership between Nokia and Qualcomm themselves. In many ways and for many years they have been the competitive drivers of the moblie communications business and to see them gazing lovingly into each others eyes is a major change and slightly disturbing experience. Between them they could surely have developed a complete smartphone platform with the dollars they have spent on lawyers' fees over the past few years, which is no doubt a major reason why they are holding hands.

The acrimonious spats finished just six months ago when Nokia agreed to pay 1.7 billion euros (about $2.1 billion) to be allowed to use Qualcomm technology over the next 15 years.

In the end it came down to pragmatism and that catchphrase heard so often here this week, "the realities of the new wireless marketplace." Nokia has been hugely successful in global markets, but has for long been a bit player in North America, which is, at least initially, the target for the alliance with Qualcomm.

One source suggests a phone using the Symbian platform is already under development targeting U.S. consumers and, crucially operators, probably AT&T. This is a must for Nokia.

At a conference on the opening day of MWC, Nokia CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo stressed there was an imperative in the mobile phone business for collaboration. We all need to work with long term partners as well as competitors, and work in different ways than we have gone about our business in the past, was the message.

But not everyone will be pleased at the outcome, becuase Nokia as market leader and market driver was the most popular girl in class. Indeed some have been dreading Nokia and Qualcomm getting together.

The deal is clearly another nail in the coffin of Texas Instruments' efforts to sell its legacy baseband business. Neither is it necessarily positive for ST-Ericsson, another very significant supplier of chips to Nokia.

And with Nokia now driving the Symbian Foundation, the response may also owe something of the threat, notably in the U.S market, from the Android platform and operating system.

There was a disappointing and unexpectedly poor showing here this week of Android phones. All this after it was the star of last year's event with many demos and much surrounding hype. Samsung and even Motorola have many in the pipeline, threatening the Symbian's dominance in smartphones. But that exuberence and interest in things new was buoyed up a year ago by prospects for growth and expanding niches to be leveraged. In "the realities of the new wireless marketplace," the mood was much more about a return to basics, established players, and consolidation.

The message is clear though. Nokia will keep its chip suppliers, with Qualcomm now in the club, both close and at arm's length, with a keen eye on competition to win the vital sockets across the platform * basebands, applications processors and probably RF front ends and memories as well.

From Barcelona

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