Rumours abound that Nokia is in the final stages of securing a partnership with Facebook – a deal which would see the social networking phenom become a chief feature on future Nok handsets.

According to the guys over at PaidContent.org, Nokia would purchase a stake in Facebook – a company with a value in the region of $15bn. So if this is true, it’s one heck of a big deal.

Some sources are claiming that the partnership would result in a Facebook app becoming as prominent a feature on Nokia smartphones as the YouTube button is on the Apple iPhone. Fair enough – but what would such an app offer? If we had to guess it’ll be a cleverly stripped-down version of the “real” online Facebook, allowing users to instantly upload photos and videos to their account, poke and message their mates and get speedy notifications when their mates do the same – something similar to the Facebook app available on BlackBerry phones, in other words.

Or could there be even more to it? We’ll have to wait and see, because both Nokia and Facebook are remaining frustratingly tight-lipped on the subject.