alliance

It was February, when Nokia and Microsoft announced that they will collaborate on the development of a new smartphone ecosystem based on Nokia’s hardware and Microsoft’s mobile OS. The primary directives of this alliance were Nokia’s consent to adopt Windows platform for its smartphone strategy. After approximately 10 weeks from that announcement, Nokia and Microsoft have signed a definitive agreement to officially conform their strategic partnership. Few weeks back, Nokia announced that complete roll out of the Windows phones, which are built on Nokia’s hardware and Microsoft’s software, will take another year. In fact, although Nokia would stop building devices powered by Symbian, the company would continue to build the ad-hoc devices through 2011. In a blogpost , Nokia’s Kai Öistämö and Andy Lees said that hundreds of their workers are engaged in developing Windows smartphones so that they could be delivered on schedule. It means the first delivery of these smartphones will take place in 2011 itself and 2012 is basically for the volume shipment. Two very important points, which came out from the blog. The more important of the two is the plight of Nokia and Microsoft that they are deploying toolkit that are inherently suitable for developers who worked with Nokia. The developers, who worked on building the Symbian eco-system, will be shifted to Windows phone platform. Nokia said they are relying on the participation by more and more developers like Rovio, Groupon, Ditton, etc. will help them building interesting apps. Earlier, we had reported of an open letter from Vice President, Forum Nokia Purnima Kochikar to the Symbian development community which clearly pointed that either the developers can shift to WP7 or demote themselves to building apps for feature phones. A spokesperson from Nokia informed, “All Symbian developers will have a free registration for the next year for the Windows developers program”. As for the second point, the collaboration has presented an excellent opportunity to Microsoft to increase the functionality of its search engine Bing. How? Microsoft is gaining power of Nokia’s mapping and navigation platform and those services will help it enhance Bing as a local search engine. However it won’t be one sided and the Bing search service will also help building a smooth ecosystem for Nokia. The major pillars, upon which this relationship stands and will furnish in future are — sharing of services and navigation tools by both companies, joint developer initiatives and leveraging Windows marketplace infrastructure by opening a global app store which will allow developers to build app and publish across different Windows and Nokia platforms through a unique portal. Overall, both Nokia and Microsoft are optimistic about the partnership. The blog described the hypothetical scenario when the Windows phone built on Nokia’s hardware will be completely dished out by suggesting, “You will see unique innovation and differentiation across hardware, software and services as the Nokia products using Windows Phone roll-out, delivering consumer experiences in mapping, search, gaming, social media, advertising and productivity.” Nokia and Microsoft have also rolled out a press release informing about this alliance. Check out this video showing the executives of the two companies speaking about the alliance – Click here to view the embedded video. . Check the Winners Of WATAwards Here Related Posts Nokia To Symbian Developers: Migrate To WP7 Or Die If Mobile Apps Shape Who We Are..Indians Mean Business Microsoft Paying Nokia A Billion Dollars To Seal Smartphone Deal? Nokia And Microsoft Smartphone Partnership Confirmed! Nokia Announcing New Partnership And Headquarters On Friday?