Nokia finally announced its strategic partnership with Microsoft, that would use their strengths and expertise to create a new global mobile ecosystem. Nokia also shocked everyone by announcing that, Windows Phone would be their “primary software platform”. It does not mean that Symbian and MeeGo are dead, In a separate release Nokia mentioned that they are expecting to sell more than 150 million Symbian devices in the coming years. Nokia also confirmed that the MeeGo based smartphone would be launched, later this year. Nokia is also planning to manufacture Windows and MeeGo based tablets. According to the deal, Nokia would adopt Windows Phone as its principal smartphone strategy, innovating on top of the platform in areas such as imaging, where Nokia is a market leader. Nokia would help drive the future of Windows Phone. Nokia would contribute its expertise on hardware design, language support, and help bring Windows Phone to a larger range of price points, market segments and geographies. Nokia and Microsoft would closely collaborate on joint marketing initiatives and a shared development roadmap to align on the future evolution of mobile products. Bing would power Nokia’s search services across Nokia devices and services, giving customers access to Bing’s next generation search capabilities. Microsoft adCenter would provide search advertising services on Nokia’s line of devices and services. Nokia Maps would be a core part of Microsoft’s mapping services. For example, Maps would be integrated with Microsoft’s Bing search engine and adCenter advertising platform to form a unique local search and advertising experience Microsoft development tools would be used to create applications to run on Nokia Windows Phones, allowing developers to easily leverage the ecosystem’s global reach. Nokia’s content and application store would be integrated with Microsoft Marketplace for a more compelling consumer experience. “Today, developers, operators and consumers want compelling mobile products, which include not only the device, but the software, services, applications and customer support that make a great experience,” Stephen Elop, Nokia President and CEO, said at a joint news conference in London. “Nokia and Microsoft will combine our strengths to deliver an ecosystem with unrivalled global reach and scale. It’s now a three-horse race.” “I am excited about this partnership with Nokia,” said Steven A. Ballmer, Microsoft CEO. “Ecosystems thrive when fueled by speed, innovation and scale. The partnership announced today provides incredible scale, vast expertise in hardware and software innovation and a proven ability to execute.” Nokia is expected to launch the MeeGo based Nokia N9 smartphone at the end of this year. According to the rumors, Nokia N9 would be the first and the last MeeGo powered smartphone to be manufactured by Nokia. Windows Phone 7 was launched back in October and the sales are not as per the expectations. Do you think Nokia made the right move by joining hands with Microsoft? Or Nokia should have selected Android as its primary operating system? Let us know your interesting views in the comments below. Stay tuned for more news and info on this topic by following us on Twitter and/or by subscribing to our RSS Feed. [Source: Nokia] Authors:

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