Nokia Corp. (NYSE: NOK) today announced its intention to buy mobile middleware company Intellisync Corp. (Nasdaq: SYNC) for $430 million in cash.

Under the terms of the deal, Nokia will pay $5.25 for each Intellisync share. The acquisition is expected to close within three or four months, pending regulatory and shareholder approval.

The move is one that Jack Gold of J. Gold Associates describes as "primarily a shot across the bow of RIM." The deal will give Nokia a mobile email software server to sell, and Gold expects that its own Nokia business center email product will be "mothballed" when the Intellisync deal is completed.

"Nokia would like to capture an increasing share of the wireless email market, as it attempts to capture the high-end device space," comments Gold.

Nokia says the deal will allow it to offer the abilities to connect any device to any data source, application or network, but hasn't said how the deal may affect its other software offerings.

— Dan Jones, Site Editor, Unstrung