HELSINKI/SEATTLE (Reuters) - Two years after hitching its fate to Microsoft's(NSQ:MSFT) Windows Phone software, Nokia(HEX:NOK1V) collapsed into the arms of the U.S. software giant on Tuesday, agreeing to sell its main handset business for 5.44 billion euros.

Nokia, once the world's dominant handset maker, has failed to close a yawning lead opened up by Apple (NSQ:AAPL) and Samsung in the highly competitive market for smartphones and will now concentrate on its networking equipment unit, navigation business and technology patents.

Nokia's Canadian boss Stephen Elop, who ran Microsoft's business software division before jumping to Nokia in 2010, will return to the U.S. firm as head of its mobile devices business - a Trojan horse, according to disgruntled Finnish media.

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/microsoft-acquire-nokias-handset-business-031604296.html