Here is what Nokia and Microsoft partnership brings to the table. Taken from Nokia Conversations.My thoughts in Bold Italics. The partnership of these two giants is more on end to end solutions and not specifically on WP7 on Nokia phones.
- Nokia will adopt Windows Phone as its primary smart phone strategy, innovating on top of the platform in areas such as imaging, where Nokia is a market leader. [So basically Nokia will use its core competency that lies in imaging and other smart phone related features, to enhance the Windows Mobile platform and in return they can also leverage on the reach, which Microsoft as a company commands.]
- 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 [Nokia is good in volume game and has the capability to reach all strata of the mobile phone user market. Their competency in developing countries of Asia and Europe will help Microsoft get deeper into this markets. Like I have said before, most of the Nokia phone have really good hardware and they will use this expertise to push the software from Microsoft.]
- Nokia and Microsoft will closely collaborate on development, joint marketing initiatives and a shared development roadmap to align on the future evolution of mobile products.
- Bing will power Nokia’s search services across Nokia devices and services, giving customers access to Bing’s next generation search capabilities. Microsoft adCenter will provide search advertising services on Nokia’s line of devices and services. [Google is killing Microsoft in search, especially on mobile devices and also mobile advertising, Microsoft does not have the reach, which you can see in Android based devices but Nokia has the reach and once Bing and Microsoft's search advertising gets onto Nokia phone it will definitely have more impact on their market presence.]
- Nokia Maps will 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.[Good platform and avenue to make Nokia maps more popular as they are pitted against Google's Mapping service. Plus, Nokia needs to leverage more of its Navteq acquisition. But one more thing is does Nokia need Microsoft's help for its mapping service..well I don't think so!!]
- Nokia’s extensive operator billing agreements will make it easier for consumers to purchase Nokia Windows Phone services in countries where credit-card use is low. [What about North America, where Nokia is still not able to crack th operator dominated market]
- Microsoft development tools will be used to create applications to run on Nokia Windows Phones, allowing developers to easily leverage the ecosystem’s global reach.
- Microsoft will continue to invest in the development of Windows Phone and cloud services so customers can do more with their phone, across their work and personal lives.
- Nokia’s content and application store will be integrated with Microsoft Marketplace for a more compelling consumer experience. [This sounds a good move given the fact that you need some serious arsenal to compete with App marketplaces like iTunes Store and Android App Store]
Don't know if Intel is going to take this Nokia-Microsoft partnership is a really good way. Also when it comes to UI, both, Nokia and Microsoft need to work really hard to churn out UI that keeps the users interested and make it different from the existing popular UIs so that users yearn for this. So even if we don't see a Nokia device running on MeeGo, Intel will focus on getting MeeGo to other devices, may be tablets. I am not sure, whether this deal will have Apple or Android/Google top bosses thinking hard. When it comes to Apple, they are ina different league altogether, Microsoft was never able to catch up with them and this partnership wont help Microsoft in their race to catch up with Apple. And God only knows how much time will take for this partnership to get their groundbreaking product out in the market and what would have happened to Apple and Android ecosystems by that time.
If you ask me based on whatever I know/understand about this industry, Nokia does not need a Microsoft to face the heat they are getting from Apple and upcoming smart phone platforms. They have the capability inside and that also top notch, they just need to get their shit together and take the competition head-on. I am sure there might be some thought process behind this deal and I am not doubting that, but I have only one question, "Does a giant like Nokia needs the support of Microsoft to take back its throne?"
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