Nokia and Microsoft Announce Phone Partnership
Nokia has confirmed yesterday’s rumors and announced that it will adopt Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 operating system for its line of smartphones.
Gone are the days when Nokia denounced the use of Android by companies other than Google. The Finnish company had insisted that diluting your own brand by using so popular an OS was a poor move for any company. However, Nokia is under new leadership now, and it seems the newly-crowned chief executive is eager to correct past mistakes.
At an event in London today, Stephen Elop and Steve Ballmer announced a partnership that aids both companies in their battles against Google and Apple. Though Nokia claims it will continue work on its own mobile operating system, MeeGo, and still plans to launch MeeGo devices before the end of the year, the company has said Windows Phone 7 will be its principal smartphone strategy going forward.
Nokia will do well to have a more recognizable smartphone OS on its devices, but this deal isn’t all for Nokia. For its part, Microsoft will benefit from access to Nokia’s experiences with hardware and Espoo is promising to bring Windows to “a larger range of price points, market segments and geographies.”
During the press conference, Elop admitted that he had spoken to Google about an Android partnership but ultimately felt that Nokia could not differentiate itself in the Android market. Nokia shares have tanked since the announcement was made, as analysts remain skeptical of the deal. Forbes reports that Nokia shares in Helsinki, Finland, fell by almost 12 percent this morning, while the company’s New York-listed shares have extended their decline in pre-market trading and are down more than 8 percent.

Nokia joining with the unfavorite WinOS is a sure way to differentiate itself from the rest. You put yourself in the negative side while the others in the positive side.
Thank you for all the good times we have had. R.I.P Nokia you could have been the best but you choose otherwise. Iam now a Android HTC Desire HD user and dont regret 1 second of it.
AFL = Android For Life
No, you're not. I personally don't have extreme opinions one way or another. I don't think the fact that Nokia went with the Windows mobile platform is enough information to judge future success. It all depends on how well they carry out the advantages of the partnership. It may work, it may not.
People are too quick to stamp down their opinion without so much as a few minutes of critical thinking. Too much a priori justification based on emotion followed by conscious rationalization of that emotion.
Also they're planning to continue MeeGo development. If they live up to that promise they may still come out on top. In the meantime this highly benefits Microsoft as Nokia's brand is recognized worldwide and will definitely push the MS platform in a huge way.
And to all the comments about "bye by Nokia nice knowing you" do you realize that there are already Samsung, HTC and etc. devices out on the market? Do you think those companies are going to go away now because they produced win 7 devices?
That strategy seems to work for HTC, Samsung and LG among others.
I know! I know! The management then, would have just dumped WebOS and added it's bits and pieces to Symbian.
But where do you go from there? You have lost the know-how of building interfaces, you are tied to Microsoft, and have lost your identity. Like Microsoft is going to somehow allow Linux/Maemo/Meego development to continue full force in Nokia... It's a dead end street, even much more so than Android.