Nokia and Microsoft are working together and this is not secret anymore, but nobody could expect the results of this cooperation would be seen so soon. Nokia Smart Devices lead Jo Harlow at her company’s press conference at Mobile World Congress confirmed the Nokia Windows Phone 7 prototype is real. Though he didn’t note any details of it but showed the large touchscreen twice. It was also hinted the phone can be available this year which would make Stephen Elop much happier.

During the event Elop was asked whether he had been a “Trojan horse” sent to a rival company to artificially inflate its market share. Elop answered it couldn’t be real, as the board of directors had taken part in making decision.

According to Elop’s word, Nokia doesn’t want to be the exclusive maker of WP7 phones as competition will help them to return their lost position in the “ecosystem”. The company deliberately chose WP7 to make it the third competitor platform in the smartphone market after Android and iOS.

Finally, we all have gotten the answers to our questions, and I don’t think there are many people disappointed from this deal as Nokia has been sinking and WP7 is its lifebuoy. Though there is much time to make such conclusions, but I am almost sure Nokia and Microsoft will benefit from this situation.

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Yesterday Nokia and Microsoft have announced the start of a long-awaited strategic partnership, under which Nokia will make Windows Phone 7 one of its core operating systems for the mobile devices. This strategic move on the part of Nokia wasn’t that unexpected especially to those gadget geeks who keep up with the recent events of the IT-world. Over the past two weeks, rumors about a possible alliance of the two companies were so actively discussed  that even Nokia’s shares rose 4% in price.

Meanwhile we’re dreaming what Nokia’s Windows Phone 7 could look like, Engadget came up with the first images of the Nokia’s Windows Phone 7 concept.

I just can’t take my eyes off these shots of the newly-baked concept phones; seems like Microsoft and Nokia friendship will be a very fertile one.

Nokia’s new design resembles a blend of its N8 and C7 Symbian devices, a choice of lively colors leaves no doubt that they are Nokia devices.

Microsoft also played a part in the concepts’ look introducing its famous three buttons on the bottom of the device.

What can i say, I love the design and everything about it. The first major step is done; let’s wait for other Nokia-Microsoft “love fruits”.

Today after Stephen Elop’s interview it became clear Nokia and Microsoft decided to combine assets to build new ecosystem. It would help both companies to challenge the existing Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android platforms. This cooperation will be profitable for two companies: Nokia will try to return its positions of the most popular phone maker, while Microsoft can more successfully promote Windows Phone 7 and other products like Bing, Office and Xbox Live.

Nokia’s smartphones will run Windows Phone 7 in future and this will allow Nokia to offer phones with a larger range of price points, and share more market segments and geographies.

Under this partnership we can assume:

• 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
• Nokia’s extensive operator billing agreements would make it easier for consumers to purchase Nokia Windows Phone services in countries where credit-card use is low.
• 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.

According to Elop’s words Nokia and Microsoft intend to enter into a strategic alliance. They will bring a new mobile experience that would be based on stellar hardware, innovative software and great services.

Once Nokia’s WP7-powered smartphones win users hearts, it will help Microsoft’s platform to become more popular. Nokia wouldn’t be another Windows Phone OEM and that’s a right decision, don’t you think so?

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This morning was quite fatal for Nokia when Stephen Elop announced they would join to Microsoft for fighting against Google. He also noted Nokia’s future smartphone will be packed with the platforms made by Microsoft, but this doesn’t mean Nokia N9 which has been announced earlier would drop MeeGo and switch to Microsoft’s OS. The Nokia N9 probably will be the first Meego-powered smartphone.

MeeGo is an open source operating system which is currently being developed by Nokia and Intel. It is going to get the all usability and features its predecessor owns. It also will deliver a much better variety of apps, than the Maemo does, thanks to the introduction of Nokia’s Qt framework.

Qt framework will allow developers to offer apps that can be ported between Symbian^3 and MeeGo. So we can say all those apps that are being created for the Nokia N8 and Nokia C7 will be compatible with the Nokia n9 too.

During the press release was held today morning Stephen Elop announced their first MeeGo smartphone will be launched at some point this year. And we can only say it’ll run MeeGo, nothing else we can inform now.

Honestly, I have though that Nokia will still keep MeeGo, i.e. it wouldn’t drop Symbian and MeeGo simultaneously and switch to Windows Phone 7. Though I guess we have to wait for a long time until we’ll see first Nokia smartphones powered with Microsoft’s OS.

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Nokia and Microsoft have finally concluded a long awaited partnership which is supposed to trigger the development of Nokia, the largest cell phone maker which has lately yielded its positions in the global market share. Nokia casted aside its home grown operating system in favor of the software made by Microsoft, this broad strategic alliance will make Nokia-Microsoft couple a deserved rival of Apple and Google, the current leaders of the Smartphone market.

The newly appointed Nokia’s chief executive Stephen Elop confirmed Windows Mobile 7 to be  the company’s number one platform.

“Nokia is at a critical juncture, where significant change is necessary and inevitable in our journey forward,” said Elop. “Today, we are accelerating that change through a new path, aimed at regaining our smartphone leadership.”

Nokia will advance Windows Mobile platform handling issues like hardware design, imaging and mapping, meanwhile Microsoft in its turn will put its best in Nokia devices, starting with the integration of Bing.

We all love Nokia and we truly hope that it will recoup its market positions in the nearest future.

Via

Though Nokia has lost its market share in the US but in Europe and Asia it is still in leading positions. This is why European carriers are worried whether Nokia will cooperate with Android, which can affect on Nokia’s popularity. Symbian powered phones are still very loved by European users and according to the Financial Times, Vodafone, Telefonica and France Telecom are afraid of iPhone and Android duopoly. So the aforementioned carriers hope Nokia will stay away from Android and will come up with something different.

It’s really distressing for European carriers, as if Nokia will sign an agreement for Android, Google will consume and own the market. This means, Apple and Google will have much power over European mobile system and it may go out from their control. This will hurt Nokia either, as if Android gets the main role in European market, Nokia will lose its market share here too.

European mobile market is quite sensitive when it comes to American technology companies. For example, last year Microsoft wanted to implement a browser choice screen for European users after the Norwegian browser maker complained that Internet Explorer is anti-competitive.

European carriers would like Nokia goes with Windows Phone 7, if there is not any other way. So it can balance European smartphone market in terms of platforms.

I guess Nokia will hear European operators’ calls and tomorrow during the meeting with the investors Elop won’t announce anything like we have talked about, and all questions will get their answers on Sunday at the press. We have only to wait.

Source: Financial Times

While many people discus why Nokia has cancelled the first MeeGo device and decided to work on the second, analysts debate what Nokia will do – it’ll switch to Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 or Google’s Android. So let’s see what the specialists are thinking about this case. We have studied Bloomberg’s report and here is what we have found.

According to Bloomberg, Nokia is too close to cooperate with Microsoft to bring Windows Phone 7 to its high-end smartphones. But before to make such decision Stephen Elop had met Microsoft’s CEO Steve Ballmer and Google CEO Eric Schmidt and talked about their platforms. According to the authors of the abovementioned report, Nokia has already abandoned MeeGo which has been going to be the successor of Symbian for Nokia’s high-end smartphones. So the specialists think, during the Nokia Strategy and Financial Briefing tomorrow Elop will unveil the company’s plans and probably they will refer to WP7. It could be a real version, as the agreement between Nokia and Microsoft can help both companies to go forward Android and Apple in the smartphone market.

Hakim Kriout, a fund manager at Grigsby $ Associates in New York, who holds Nokia shares, said:

“Very few companies regain their leadership once they’ve lost it. It’s a very difficult thing to do because their demise tends to originate from a combination of problems rather than one or two issues.”

But not all analysts think in this way, for example Inderes analyst Mikael Rautanen thinks Nokia wouldn’t use WP7 platform for its smartphones:

“We do not believe that Nokia will start using WP7, because that operating system has nothing to add to Nokia’s own eco system. It’s quite likely that Nokia and Windows will start some kind of cooperation, but that does not necessarily mean WP7.”

I tend to think Rautanen’s thoughts are more believable as licensing Android or Windows Phone 7 software won’t bring any benefits to Nokia and the smartphone market is fulfill with Android-powered smartphones.

However, I guess all our questions will get their answers tomorrow when Elop will introduce Nokia’s plans to investors.

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Recently we picked up some info on Nokia’s plans concerning the release of its first MeeGo running smartphone which is known to public as the Nokia N9.

It was previously supposed that the debut of the Nokia N9 will be hold before the end of this month. According to the rumors the expected handset is endowed with an Intel Atom 1.2 GHz CPU, 64 GB of integrated memory, 12-megapixel camera and a 4-inch AMOLED display.

But now Reuters obtained some new information from two sources close to Nokia which will not please all those folks waiting for the arrival of the Nokia N9. Reuters reported that N9 may never appear on the market. However the reasons why the company decided to close the project, are not known. The dream about the spoken Nokia N9 which was so heavily discussed and expected by all Nokia freaks simply vanished. Too sad!

However the source also claims that Nokia may come up with some other MeeGo-device, though it may be in an incomplete form. Rumors say that the handset will be presented at the upcoming meeting with investors, which will be held on February 11 in London.

By the way, according to the same rumors, during the pointed meeting Nokia will also announce its plans about using Windows Phone 7 on their handsets.

All this sounds fishy but still we have to wait to see how the things are settled.

All audio nerds can equip their Nokia handsets with a brand new Music With Me 3rd Party Symbian application. The app is presented by the Nokia Beta Labs, and will surely appeal to all folks using iTunes and Nokia handsets.

This handy app lets you quickly and wirelessly bring your iTunes music on your Nokia device. Simply choose the preferred iTunes playlists and Music WithMe will handle the rest. It is really cool we can sync the Nokia device with Apple’s iTunes, that’s the reason I love  3rd Party applications.

BetaLabs Blog:

Music WithMe is a straightforward, simple-to-use application for getting music from your iTunes library onto your mobile phone wirelessly and automatically.

Music WithMe is made up of two components: the mobile app and the desktop client (Mac or Windows). The first time you launch the mobile app you will need to create a new account, the same account can be used for signing in to the desktop client. So set up your account and there it goes. Once you update your playlist, the songs will be automatically downloaded to the Nokia handset.

Enjoy hassle free music experience with Music WithMe.

Nokia’s CEO Stephen Elop recently introduced a memo to its employees where he describes Nokia’s current status. For more figurative introduction he compared Nokia with the man who is standing on a burning platform and has to jump in order to survive. Of course, you understood the man is Nokia and the fire is Nokia’s competitors in face of Google’s Android, Apple’s iOS and the low-end phone manufacturers in such countries as China or India are.

So from Elop’s word we can assume that Symbian didn’t prove itself and by the end of 2011 we’ll see only MeeGo-powered devices. Though I guess this is not news for many geeks, as such conversations buzzed for a long time. All its attempts to promote Symbian^3 platform has not success, and probably Nokia decided not to deceive themselves and switch to more promising policy. We can also think about Windows Phone 7 as an alternative for Symbian.

Besides his “novel” Stephen Elop also introduced three treats for Nokia: first, Symbian and MeeGo is not enough to compete with other smartphone makers. Second, Samsung is the main competitor of Nokia as it develops “home” markets such as Europe, while Nokia implements several kinds of campaigns in Asia and Africa. But it’s under great pressure from low cost Asian newcomers in India and China.

For this case Nokia is the most popular brand in India, which has the fourth biggest economy in the world, and will overtake Japan in third place this year. This means half a billion people join a new middle class, which is about the size of Europe. So it’s a good market for sharing.

Anyway, Nokia decided to change its strategy understanding Symbian and MeeGo yield their positions. I guess Stephen Elop was invited to Nokia for these deals – to change the company’s policy wholy.

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