Nokia Unloads Qt, 500 Patents in Asset Garage Sale

Back in June, Nokia said it would unload some non-core assets as part of a massive corporate restructuring. Today, the company delivered on that pledge, selling off its Qt software business and hundreds of wireless patents as well.

Finnish software services outfit Digia, which acquired a portion of Qt about a year ago, has agreed to purchase the remainder of the mobile application development framework business.

Price? That’s undisclosed. But sources familiar with the deal say it’s “nowhere near” the $150 million that Nokia paid for Qt in 2008. But it’s something, and now that Nokia has cast its lot with Microsoft’s Windows Phone, it doesn’t have much need for Qt, whose cross-platform application development framework was intended for its now-abandoned Symbian and MeeGo operating systems.

In a separate transaction also announced this morning, Nokia is selling some 500 wireless patents to video-ringtone company Vringo. The patents cover a broad range of cellular infrastructure tech, and 31 of them are said to be standards-essential. Vringo paid about $22 million for the portfolio, and could end up paying Nokia even more if the patents generate more than $22 million in revenue.

For Nokia, which is struggling to right itself after stumbling badly in the handset market, the proceeds from these two transactions will help shore up its finances as it prepares to release a new line of smartphones running Microsoft’s Windows Phone 8 OS.

(Image courtesy of Mediawench/ Flickr)