Despite recent critical and commercial successes, Nokia is still in deep trouble.
While it formerly ruled the mobile phone universe, sales of its Lumia Windows 8 smartphone line have not managed to take much marketshare from the Android (Samsung) and iOS market leaders.
Meanwhile adoption of Microsoft's Windows Phone 8 platform is also stalling on other manufacturers. IDC says Windows Phone currently has a global marketshare of about 3% - minuscule in comparison to Android. The result is that both Microsoft and Nokia - which sells 79% of all Windows Phone devices - are prepared to look for new options.
And according to press reports on Thursday, until quite recently they were looking at each other.
The Wall Street Journal quoted "people familiar with the matter" who said Microsoft was in talks with Nokia as recently as a month ago over a potential deal to buy its handset business.
The Journal said the multi-billion dollar deal would have seen Microsoft take over the company and eventually release its own line of Windows 8 devices.
However the deal apparently fell apart after the two sides failed to agree on a price, given Nokia's continued marketshare weakness.
Take a look at our slideshow of Nokia through the ages below, and let us know: what was your favourite Nokia device?
