Finnish phonemeaker Nokia has announced that it will acquire the privately-held, Chicago-based Novarra, makers of the Vision mobile browser and server platform.

"By driving innovation in all segments of our portfolio, we are building one of the largest consumer audiences for web services and content," said NokiaEVP for service Niklas Savander on Friday. "Novarra's Internet services technology delivered on the world's most widely-used mobile platform, Nokia's Series 40, will help us achieve this."

Nokia also noted that the company plans to make a "new service offering" based on Novarra technology available later this year.

The Finns may still control a huge chunk of the mobile-device market - the company claims that "Every day, more than 1.2 billion people connect to one another with a Nokia device" - but despite its favorably-reviewed flagship N900 smartphone, it's still playing catch-up in the battle against Apple, RIM, and Android devices in the lucrative high-end of the handset market.

With the acquisition of Novarra, however, Nokia is signalling that it's not conceding ground in that contest - and that it's moving forward despite any suit - countersuit distractions caused by its legal battles with the smartphone-mindset leader, Apple. ®