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These two deals follow on the heels of several other eyebrow-raising acquisitions by major communications companies over the past few months. In September, Nokia raided its piggy-bank to buy two companies leading in each of their own respective fields: mobile advertising company Enpocket and electronic mapper Navteq. Whilst the financial details of the Enpocket deal were undisclosed, the Navteq purchase is valued at $8.1 billion. In October, Cisco acquired wireless broadband infrastructure provider Navini Networks for $330 million.

At first glance, these deals appear somewhat incongruous, since the acquired companies all offer products and services which sit outside the traditional business areas of the respective industry giant making the purchase. But, these deals reveal how these major players see their respective markets evolving and the opportunities which must be grabbed for them to stay in pole position.

The Microsoft-Musiwave deal seems the most straightforward, given Apple's success with the iPhone and iTunes, and Qualcomm will likely be looking to marry mobile banking features into its BREW and MedioFLO handset software and media delivery platforms. As Nokia drives out more handsets with integrated GPS, the company clearly feels that providing mapping services will reap huge rewards. The Navini deal is perhaps the most unusual since Cisco has traditionally not offered radio access and basestation infrastructure. However, Navini could give Cisco a guaranteed customer for its core network IP products as the WiMAX market takes off.

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