Nokia and Microsoft form partnership

Gman496

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Nokia has announced plans to form a "broad strategic partnership" with Microsoft.

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Stephen Elop was at Microsoft before taking over
Nokia in September 2010


The deal would see Nokia use the Windows phone operating system for its smartphones, the company said.

Microsoft's Bing will power Nokia's search services, while Nokia Maps would be a core part of Microsoft's mapping services.

Earlier this week Nokia chief executive Stephen Elop sent a memo to staff warning that the company was in crisis.

The memo, published first by technology website Engadget, warned that the company was standing on a "burning platform".

The new strategy means Nokia's existing smartphone operating systems will be gradually sidelined.

Symbian, which runs on most of the company's current devices will become a "franchise platform", although the company expects to sell approximately 150 million more Symbian devices in future.

The announcement is widely seen as a response to the growing pressure from other smartphone platforms, including Google's Android and Apple's iPhone.

"This is a clear admission that Nokia's own-platform strategy has faltered," said Ben Wood, an analyst with research firm CCS: Insight.

"Microsoft is the big winner in this deal, but there are no silver bullets for either company given the strength of iPhone and Android," he added.

Nokia's share of the smartphone market fell from 38% to 28% in 2010, according to monitoring firm IDC.

Nokia's upcoming Meego operating system also appears to have been sidelined, to some extent.

According to the company statement: "MeeGo will place increased emphasis on longer-term market exploration of next-generation devices."

The new platform was expected to form the core of Nokia's future smartphone and tablet strategy.

The company says it still plans to ship one Meego device by the end of 2011.

For Magnus Rehle, the Nordic managing director of research firm Greenwich Consulting, Nokia may have difficulty juggling its three operating systems: Windows, Symbian and MeeGo.

"Three platforms is a lot to work with. I'm not sure there is room for so many platforms," he said.

And, as with any tie-up, there could be clashes between the two firms.

"Elop has to convince the best people to stay and some people will inevitably be jumping off the burning platform," he said.
 
Here's the vid for the announcement
[video=youtube;rTCwf6dXZOg]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTCwf6dXZOg&feature=player_embedded[/video]
 
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