Gene Munster

It's much bigger than Nokia and Apple

How much will Apple end up paying if it is successfully sued by Nokia for alleged patent infringements? Well, in a research note Bloomberg obtained from Piper Jaffray & Co's Gene Munster, Nokia in the "extreme scenario" could get $12 for every iPhone that Apple sells.

Nokia has asked for royalties going back to the launch of the iPhone two years ago. Apple has sold 33.7 million units. That would mean a payment to Nokia of more than $404 million.

A lot of money, but a drop in the ocean for Apple, which made a net income of $1.67 billion in the fourth quarter. Net income is the money a company shares among its shareholder after taking out all expenses, like tax, salaries and more. And Apple has about $34 billion in cash.