Apple and Nokia to 'co-operate' after settling patent row

Apple and Nokia have settled a dispute over the use of patented technology in smartphones and agreed to "co-operate".

In December, Nokia sued Apple claiming the company had breached 32 technology patents covering displays, user interfaces and video encoding.

The two companies have now signed a deal allowing Apple to use the technology, and Nokia will receive an up-front cash payment.

Apple will also stock Nokia's health products in its retail stores.

The two companies have not revealed specific details of the financial agreement, but one analyst suggested it would be worth millions of dollars to Nokia.

"The agreement is per year, so it's probably in the hundreds of millions of dollars range," said Keith Mallinson, an industry analyst as Wiseharbor.

"That's partly because it covers many patents, and Nokia has some very important ones, they were one of the pioneers of cellular standards.

"But looking at Apple's business... one industry estimate is that they made $140bn (£107bn) revenue on iPhone sales in 2016.

"Even a small royalty against that - less than 1% - would be in the hundreds of millions of dollars."

Nokia said it was "looking forward to supporting Apple", while Apple's Jeff Williams said the company was "pleased with this resolution of our dispute".

Between 2009 and 2011, the two companies were locked in a series of legal battles over the patents for the technology they used in their mobile phones.

At the time, Nokia was still the world's leading mobile phone manufacturer, but was being rapidly undermined by the rise of Apple's iPhone.