Nokia adopts Windows Phone as its primary smartphone platform
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Nokia Strategy and Financial Briefing conference Q&A
Nokia expects 2011 and 2012 to be transition years
Nokia announces new leadership team
The nitty-gritty of the Nokia Windows Phone announcement
Nokia just sent us the details about their long-awaited strategy shift, and it is a bombshell. The embattled number one cell phone manufacturer is adopting, wait for it... Windows Phone as its primary smartphone platform! This doesn't mean that Nokia will just come up with a Windows Phone 7 device in a few months, the integration will be much deeper than that:
"Nokia will help drive and define the future of Windows Phone. Nokia will contribute its expertise on hardware design, language support, and help bring Windows Phone to a larger range of price points, market segments and geographies".
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Nokia + Microsoft - the Third Ecosystem to take on Apple and Google |
From what we are reading, Nokia and Microsoft will leverage and merge the best of both worlds. First off, Nokia will adopt the Windows Phone platform and build on it, focusing on things like its imaging research that brought us the best-in-class smartphone camera on the Nokia N8.
The free offline voice-guided navigation Nokia Maps will be integrated with Bing Search, and the result will appear on Nokia phones (no mention what will happen with the current crop of WP7 devices). Great news, and a major threat to Google Maps. That's full GPS coverage of 180 countries, folks, courtesy of NAVTEQ, in 100 of which Nokia offers free voice-guided navigation, so Google really has to step it up with Google Maps, which offers voice-guidance in much less countries, not to mention it is nowhere near offline, and requires data charges.
Microsoft's adCenter will provide search advertising services on Nokia phones, and Nokia, in its turn, will leverage its extensive carrier billing agreements worldwide to process payments in countries where credit card usage is low.
And, finally, Microsoft's Windows Phone Developers Tools (including Silverlight) will be used to create apps for Nokia Windows Phones, Qt will stay for Symbian and MeeGo developers, while the Ovi Store ecosystem will be integrated into the Microsoft Marketplace for a more centralized experience.
Symbian is not going away, there will be legacy support for the installed base of 200 million Symbian phones, and Nokia intends to ship at least 150 million more Symbian handsets until the transition fully takes place.
As for MeeGo, Nokia will keep it as an open-source mobile platform to tweak and experiment with, and there will be at least one device with the platform outed by the end of the year. The two CEOs' open letter ended with:
"There are other mobile ecosystems. We will disrupt them.
There will be challenges. We will overcome them.
Success requires speed. We will be swift.
Together, we see the opportunity, and we have the will, the resources and the drive to succeed."
That totally sounds like Microsoft's CEO Steve Ballmer screaming on stage. Nokia's CEO Stephen Elop is his usual understated self - "It's now a three-horse race", he said, alluding to the major competitors Google and Apple, and we couldn't agree more. Just having the Windows, Office, Bing, Xbox Live, NAVTEQ and Nokia brands on one and the same device sounds incredible. Excited? So are we.
More Nokia Windows Phone coverage from PhoneArena:
Nokia Strategy and Financial Briefing conference Q&A
Nokia expects 2011 and 2012 to be transition years
Nokia announces new leadership team
The nitty-gritty of the Nokia Windows Phone announcement
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60 Comments
1. Murtuza1 (unregistered) posted on 11 Feb 2011, 02:13 3 1
OMG !!!
Is this the beginning of "The Change" ???
2. OverRatedChild (unregistered) posted on 11 Feb 2011, 02:35 7 3
Finally! I've been waiting for something like this to happen for so long!
Nokia = Great value for Money (Great hardware, low cost)
WP7 = Nice OS with good Apps
...
Nokia + WP7 = Perfect Phone (Though not for everyone)
23. BobbyTaba posted on 11 Feb 2011, 09:17 2 5
wp7 5000 apps nokia fails with smartphones. I would rather get an HTC or Samsung wp7 if I get one at all
29. Schmao posted on 11 Feb 2011, 11:05 3 0
Using only app count to bash a platform is a failing argument. You probably live in the US where only low end Nokias come. Nokia makes top of the line hardware. WP7 is a good platform, a good update will make it great.
24. asdsadas (unregistered) posted on 11 Feb 2011, 09:36 1 3
haha are u kidding ? nice apps? hahahahahahhaahahahaahahhahahahah ! 5,000 apps is nothing compared to 200,000 android and 350,000 in iOS! haha id rather get an android !
28. Schmao posted on 11 Feb 2011, 11:00 2 0
HAHAHAHAH! If someone says there are nice apps, that refers to quality not quantity. Most of the apps you need are in the 6000+ WP7 has. I have seen over 30 apps in Android that do exactly the same thing. What a waste. The huge numbers don't really mean much. Android doesn't even have a Netflix app for streaming. WP7 does having only a fraction of the apps.
BTW I am not bashing Android, I love it. Even so, WP7 is quite good.
44. phone333 posted on 11 Feb 2011, 17:00 0 0
True... I'm still waiting for Netflix and Hulu on Android. Mostly Netflix ...long overdue
60. LordBonztie posted on 30 Nov 2011, 08:58 0 0
normal people hasnt seen the apps that you can download using the symbian os. dude. learn how to hack. be wise.
3. Venkata Sudheer (unregistered) posted on 11 Feb 2011, 02:38 4 1
why would a failed platform was taken by the failing company, and they call this as strategy?
Nokia and Google mixed could have elimiinated the samsung,HTC and LG or Nokia would have been more respected if they have struck to Meego
35. Schmao posted on 11 Feb 2011, 11:33 1 0
First of all, you have some GREAT English.
Second of all, WP7 is far from failed. (Where do you get your facts from)?
Third. Nokia is not failing, SYMBIAN is failing, which is why they are leaving it.
Lastly Competition in the market is healthy as it causes competitiors to step up their game.
5. Rajitt (unregistered) posted on 11 Feb 2011, 02:55 3 5
Nokia should have opted for Google's Android, as Microsoft's Windows has lots of limitations. Android grows many times more than Windows.
6. Nokia2 (unregistered) posted on 11 Feb 2011, 03:07 4 0
Nokia will break free of WP7 limitations. Otherwise they will just become a generic hardware manufacturer because wp7 is soooooo restricted.
7. Willi (unregistered) posted on 11 Feb 2011, 03:55 4 4
Very bad decision... quitting Nokia. Joining the Android army. WP7 and Nokia fail.
34. Schmao posted on 11 Feb 2011, 11:30 1 0
Lol. WP7 is pretty good right now. Would you like to expound on why this "fails"?
8. Alui (unregistered) posted on 11 Feb 2011, 03:55 2 1
I wonder how a N8 user feels now:). And MeeGo is D.O.A. as I expected.
9. BaiGanyo posted on 11 Feb 2011, 04:24 2 1
This is a huge game changer. This is the first real challenge to Android taking over entirely. Apple will probably always continue to hold a small niche in the US, as they have with computers, but world wide they have always been going nowhere fast, as they have with computers as well. Huge coup for WP7. I mean, it doesn't get any bigger than Nokia.
10. Prodigy (unregistered) posted on 11 Feb 2011, 04:24 4 1
pretty clever...
WP7 is simple and beautifull OS with a lot of potential. If they continue to develop it, Android maybe in some trouble.
