By 
We’ve just been informed that as Nokia shopped their hardware to the two premium third-party smartphone OS providers in the United States, Google took initiative and asked them to join powers. The end result? Well, you already know – Microsoft won.
Schmidt said Google expressed disappointment when they made that choice. And it wasn’t exactly because Nokia doesn’t like what Android has to offer, I think. It’s because of a man named Stephen Elop, Microsoft’s former head of their Business Division.
Elop was recently appointed CEO and President of Finnish-bred Nokia, but his ties to Microsoft remained close. It’s not a coincidence, folks. And I’m not knocking Nokia for this at all – it’s their business. But I can’t imagine it was easy for them to ignore how big Android already is.
Was it Money? We know Microsoft has a lot of it. Google has even more. Or is it just vision? Does Nokia see something in Windows Phone 7 that has them genuinely optimistic? Or is there something in Android’s ecosystem that turned them away?
Whatever the case is, I imagine if Nokia ever does adopt our little baby robot, it won’t be under the direction of Elop. We’ll keep dreaming regardless.
I’m personally all for it. This just gives Android devs more reason to stay focused and to continue to make a vastly superior product.
I would have expected Nokia (finnish) to move to Android because Linux was started by a Finn and Android is linux based. The venture with Microsoft doesn’t surprise me since the head of Nokia isn’t Finnish (He’s Canadian) and he used to work at Microsoft.
Too bad for Nokia.
its ok competition is good.
once again the apple mentality will make another company loose its fan base . Cant wait to see how they do against android and when the dust settles who really will be standing. i will support android
Rumours are that Nokia wanted to gut android products and replace them (google maps, gmail) and Google refused so they went with microsoft who are desperate for friends on their flagging platform with an overpriced marketplace.
And once again it’s not what you know, it’s who you know!
Nokia is a phone maker so it would make sense for them to make phones for all the OS’s. Just like HTC, Samsung etc and look at how well they are doing. No one is saying to stop using their own OS… Symbian. Meego whatver.
Linux was born in Finland for crying out loud, and Nokia goes with Microsoft, WTF. I’m not surprised employees are protesting.
who cares? nokia is awful.
just remember motorola mobile was almost bankrupt. who pulled them back to being the top brand??? android. I doubt if windows mobile would have pulled motorola out if android was already a huge success, so if nokia thinks that windows mobile will help them prevail at number 1 again go for it. i hope they will come to android one day, as nokia droid would be intense!
@voidedSaint
Moto wasn’t and isn’t even close to bankrupt.
@Quentyn Kennemer
Micorsoft has about $10billion more than Google. Android rules but Google doesn’t have more cash than Microsoft.
MS made Nokia its little bitch. like someone stated above, Microkia is a dick slap to Linux
@Anderlan. Yes there are some shareholders and former employees who are rebelling against the new Nokia buisness model.
How hot is Windows Phone 7 selling? Really don’t see Nokia being around in just a few short years after this poor move.
Why do people think Nokia hardware is good? Their build quality is usually good, their cameras are usually good. But I don’t think they have ever released a phone with a fast processor or high res screen. Nokia would not be able to compete with any other Android manufacturer who are far more advanced than they are.
Personally, I would think Nokia would offer both Windows Phone 7 and Android and let their customers decide. But I guess, Nokia knows better than their customers (or ex-customers if they made the wrong choice in going with WP7).
Android needs to increase its ecosystem–they need to really get it going on netbooks and laptops if not also desktops. Give users the option to go all in for Android and allow Linux apps to be ported over to it and easily installed.
This is the new OS race. The OS that crosses from mobile to desktop to give a more “seamless” user experience will be the one to take the OS market. . . and personally I would love that to be an open-sourced OS.
I agree with Nokia’s decision, Nokia needed a really superior and unique system to replace Symbian (RIP, Symbian :( )
Android is – I agree it’s a great system, but not unique at all (copied Apple’s menu, touchfocus, market, settings place, browser) – Nokia needs a really unique system, and WP7 is just that. With their rights, and the 2011 version of WinMo7, it will be a way better choice, than Android.
Follow the $. Plain and simple. It’s a former Microsoft Exec giving a handout to his former employer. This WILL benefit Microsoft in the end. Doesn’t matter to us though. I agree with #1 too. More focus less f———–n.
there’s an article floating around that says the people at Nokia choose MS in part because android already was too big and they didn’t want there to become an android + iphone duopoly.
Not sure why nokia would care- but for whatever reason they’re at least saying they prefer there to be 3 choices instead of 2….
Nokia signed their own death certificate
I guess, Elop got himself a nice piece of pie from Microsoft for bringing Nokia on board. It is a wild guess only, but is Nokia blind or smth..?
Nokia would have made amazing Android devices. They know their hardware. Sadly, Microsoft is DOA. They software is as out of date as Blackberries and their user experence is niche not mainstream.
I think this is poorly informed opinion piece. It’s as simple as Microsoft have money and desperately want WP7 to succeed. Google are dominating the market. While Google has more money, Microsoft were probably willing to spend more money and give up more of their platform to Nokia who are still, by most counts, the number 1 selling smartphone and mobile phone manufacturer. Don’t get me wrong, i’m loving watching Android destroy everything in it’s path, but competition is always good for consumers!
( Tomi Ahonen, Nokia fan boy and mobile expert, always has good insight on these things, especially the latest stats: http://communities-dominate.blogs.com/ )
Nokia is trying to look different among the rest
nokia with windows would be a deadly combination and hot competition to android
windows is known for its software and nokia is known for its multimedia and innovations which surely will give google and apple goosebums
You are so narrow minded :(
why can’t they do both though, exclusivity is over rated, look at HTC, they are getting the best of both worlds, they make android AND WP7 phones
History lesson!!!
Linus created the kernel, which is a VERY small part of GNU. The combination of the kernel + GNU is called GNU/Linux and people shortened it to Linux. Sure, the kernel is a very important part that made GNU stable. But stop giving the Finns credit for EVERYTHING!
GNU is created in the USA through hard work from Richard Stallman. His own attempts at the kernel were failures due to instability.
So stop the crazy talks about the Finns creating the GNU system!!!
@Ace Curry : Nokia radios are the best in the business; if you live anywhere with poor reception, Nokia phones are winners. Also, they did outstanding work on battery life; my Nokias typically lasted three days to a week between charges, depending on use (communicators, e71, one n-series that i didn’t much care for).
I’ve just gotten a new phone, but if Nokia came out with an Android phone (compatible with my #$%^ contract-lock carrier) this year, I’d buy it unsubsidized.
All that said … having experienced Android, there’s no way I’d consider Symbian ever again, and Windows? Not even up to Symbian’s weight. Serious disappointment, Nokia.
Its fine for Android, but a stupid move for Nokia IMO. They have been stubbornly sticking to Symbian for too long and now they confirm their losing streak and back another future loser… IMO of course.
“Was it Money? We know Microsoft has a lot of it. Google has even more.”
Last I checked MSFT has 39.98B in cash and GOOG has 34.98B. Next time you may want to double-check your facts before publishing.
the n8 was a fail.
To Tom: market cap is not an indication of cash reserves. Although your quick thinking indicates that you mostly using MSFT products.
We all know that nokia pissed and sharted on themselves.
@ Palisandr, tom was talking about cash on hand not market cap. Those two companies are much larger than 40B in market cap.
Tom obivously doesn’t know what he is talking about.
But again, I don’t need to look at the finances to “guess” microsoft has much more cash reserve. In any case, money is likely not the issue. I think Nokia is making decisions based on a personal hatred for android. It has no reason other than wanting to take an opposite stance to android (and may be google to a point) It’s just not a good idea to base business decisions that way. It will be awhile before Nokia runs out of their hardware and market share advnatages, so it won’t be a quick death to nokia. They will have plenty of chances to reserve their course. The question is whether they would….and guess what, I don’t really care.
Im surprised Nokia didn’t go with a trifecta ofWP7, Android, and WebOS all together. But, they went with WP7 so what does WP7 have to offer? Hmm… it’s market share is stagnant, possibly even declining and it’s not open source. With MSFT throwing Billions at Nokia I think it show’s their desperation to stay relevant.
Maybe MSFT will make them license it later. Maybe Elop smells blood in the water and is taking MSFT’s money now and plans on including Android OS later on down the road anyway.
I welcome the move. Competition is a good thing. I wouldn’t sleep on Windows mobile either. One high end phone that is well marketed can be a game changer. Nokia has a huge global market presence as well.
Funny how nokia was supposed to be the champions of open source with maemo and meego and now they are with Microsoft.
I understand the idea of giving more choices but we don’t need another nanny-state OS.
@ng i was wrong, it almost had to sell its handset division because it wasnt making them money, and in that they were going to exit the whole handset division altogether, until google android saved it. sorry bankruptcy was wrong but close
sorry for having incorrect information, that you so clearly know more about
He’ll never finnish his operating system. They should just use Droidulon
meant @na
Nokia’s explanation for choosing WP7 don’t make any sense.
.
They say that Android is already too competitive, with too small margins, but guess what? Their WP7 offerings are going to be competing against those very same Android devices, and without all the benefits of being part of the larger Android ecosystem.
.
They say that they don’t want to be the exclusive manufacturer of WP7 devices, that they’ll be more successful as the ecosystem grows, but guess what? That would just land them in the same competitive situation that kept them away from Android.
.
It’s all crazy talk. All you need to know about Nokia’s decision is here (scroll down to “Top 10 Other Holders” and look who’s at number 8):
.
http://www.dailyfinance.com/company/microsoft-corporation/msft/nas/institutional-ownership
@ DroidFTW, Tom does know what he is talking about. In fact, those numbers are current as of last quarter. Now ,Palisandr, does not know what he is talking about for sure.
The ONLY reason Nokia and MS announced they have some sort of exclusive agreement, has to be that they were paid by MS. Why would a company not use both especially since Android is running the show now? They were paid period. Once again you see MS and one of its cronies, screwing things up just to further MS.
I believe 1 of the closures between nokia and microsoft was, no root access or something like that. And since Nokia knows that android is ALL ABOUT ROOTING… they just don’t want us….
For now if u ask me. When they see them on the edge of extintion, they will beg for android.
Well… thinking about it… aren’t there yet????
Either way Google will make money, why because most people will still use google search and maps in their nokia brand W7 phone and that is how google makes money. All of them helping google because this is not the choice of cooperations it is the choice of people.
I think some are too quick to write Nokia and Microsoft off. It will be interesting to see what Nokia does for their flagship phone. That will set the tone for everything else they do. If they tie it to the xbox and give it some real horsepower it will attract a market.
I haven’t had the opportunity to read all the comments above, but I find this choice by Nokia very interesting. I’m inclined to agree with the suggestions in the article below, at least for now.
http://m.gizmodo.com/5758807/why-didnt-nokia-use-android-because-that-would-be-giving-up
Sigint… Too Quick? Really?? Hmmmm…let us see now, Windows Mobile 6.1 came out when? With the promise of the never appearing updates to an ineffective and unusable mobile OS where only 3rd party programs actually WORKED on the phones. Right NOW, even, those Windows 7 phones are WAY behind the competition and it really might not matter anymore how good they might be, they will cater to a small business oriented audience… as for Nokia, who cares?
–
My $.02
–
Regards,
:)
This is business folks and Microsoft has obviously sweeten the deal for Nokia to decide to make WP7 there shinning OS, but don’t be surprise if you see in a year that Nokia will also be gearing up to release new phones featuring Android.
jimmy: nokia will probably use Bing because of microsoft.
@ ari-free
I am sure of that but you can always install google apps to windows phone. Although I have not used W7 phone but previous versions was allowed to use google search etc.
@BR I dont see why it would have a problem with Nokia using their own apps rather than Googles, isnt that the whole point of open source?
Maybe ive got it wrong but manufacturers aren’t required to inclue Google apps are they?
im sorry mol what did android copy from apple again??you better look at some history and know where things were developed from..apple copies from others ,better get your facts stright brother.you have no idea what you are talking about you iboy.
Not really a concern. The phone market is very healthy. Enough demand for 3 “ecosystems”. http://67-42-85-80.tukw.qwest.net/717.htm
P.S. Stop ending sentences on prepositions. It makes you look Android users look dumb.
No. You’re wrong. Android suffers from fragmentation. And then, most of the devices are almost similar, albeit for minor differences. Just because you don’t like the company as it decided against using Android, you cannot blast it.
Like I said before… Nothing ventured is nothing gained… GOOGLE WILL BE FINE.. We do not need nokia.. WE WILL REMAIN #1
Elop sounds like plop, the sound of a cowpie hitting the ground …just like Nokia’s stock price later this year.
I am excited to see what nokia has in store for Windows phone 7 :)
Hopefully good things will come from this
Nokia phones are generally more expensive, and hard to come by in the USA. All though their hardware, camera and designs are top notch, I just can’t see WP7 working well with that. To me personally, WP7 is outdated and Nokia is futuristic — so at the very least, Android would be fitting on any devices. Almost all Android owners would like a better keyboard, a top notch camera, and a sturdier design… and Nokia could have added Symbian apps to the existing Android market.
I have my doubts this will even get read this far down, but I would like to give a shot at my explanation for Nokia’s choice.
I believe the reason they decided to choose WP7 is because it is still a young and undefined platform. Android is already well established and has some powerful manufacturers behind it. This is also the case for WP7 obviously, but they have yet to produce the awe-inspiring products which are comparable to some running Android. They have a rare opportunity to define themselves at the early stages of a new platform, one which Elop will obviously have faith in due to his longstanding relationship with the developer.
As far as being exclusive to WP7, that is most likely due to politics between the companies, and surely a bit of money. Nokia seems to have gotten certain benefits which other manufacturers haven’t, such as the ability to modify the system. I believe this deal would make them the only exclusive manufacturer currently, so Microsoft has most likely given them some incentive for this decision.
This is a great opportunity for both Microsoft and Nokia. Both are trying to reinvent themselves while the others are busy redefining the game completely. It goes without saying they have a struggle ahead of them.
Sorry for the long read, but decisions such as this don’t exactly come in bite-size reasoning.
Nokia has great battery life because they use extremely slow CPUs. Of course that doesn’t consume as much power.
IMHO WP7 was the right decision for Nokia. It’s different, it’s fresh (unlike all the other OSses), it’s easy to use (huge market potential. Android is more for techies, and there are only so many of us. I can easily think of 20, 30 people for whom WP7 would be the right phone (especially when Nokia ports Ovi Maps to it), and maybe 3 or 4 to whom I would recommend Android (and I am an Android user, and my next phone will probably be also an Android phone). Only problem until now is that the price is too high for WP7 devices. They are expensive, and you have to sign an expensive contract as well. The potential customers just wouldn’t pay as much. And the ads, while quite cool, and while I understand why they made these, just don’t seem to connect with the population. In SE Asia there seem to be better ads, which actually SHOW the phone. That might help, but most shops don’t have actual demo units but only dummys. WP7 is sold through its UI, and you have to experience it to get it.
This is a very good thing (despite not looking at all like one)
Apple have become evil merely by virtue of what could almost be considered a monopoly
Google have suffered the same fate, but also like to collect infinite data on you
long live competition, even if it is only coming from two of the most evil former monopolies in existence…
basically you’ll saying that if ull cant beat em join em?…thas a sorry ass statagy…NOkia want to stand out from the crowd and not trail lead ..picture this if nokia did go to andriod ….they would make money yes but they would be lost in the croud i already could picture this…if microsoft make it…. picture nokia looking like it will be on top (nokia wants to lead) and differenciating its self from the other platforms … and besides more choices for us …who will benefit from this the most the customers
Nokia is making a giant step in the wrong direction.
By allowing Steve Ballmer to place top Microsoft executives at the helm of Nokia there is trouble in the horizon for the Finnish company.
Microsoft is gaining by “the occupation” of Nokia – in the short run. They gain control of a mobile hardware manufacturer in the hope that they can establish a new monopoly in a growing market.
I hope the market will prevent this. – We need no more Microsoft monopolies.
Two turkeys added together do NOT make an eagle, as Kim Komando says.
I agree.
Nokia is really hurting marketshare by playing around with the 4th place smartphone OS. I mean I can see it making a jump because of world users, but not because of American users… I think that iOS, Android, and Blackberry have serious holds on the user base here.
From personal experience with WinMo phones, no matter how clean they made the clunky, heavy OS that is Windows, I wouldn’t even switch from a Blackberry to it (let alone the fact that I LOVE my Dinc and wouldn’t drop it to go back to Blackberry).
From what I read, the need to be a major player in the US market to continue to boast being the number 1 phone maker on Earth was a big reason to drop Symbian. It’s just depressing they went the route of the OS that is not going to gain the prominence that Apple and Google have taken in the smartphone world.
I would have LOVED to have seen a Pure Google Experience phone done by Nokia. Alas, such a thing will never happen.
How can such a big company like Nokia make so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, many and big mistakes!
And this last one will be their biggest regret. I don’t know if they will survive this one.
I would have gone with Android and WP7 and be like HTC.
i read all of your comments, i use Nokia n73me, but it hangs a lot even in the latest firmware. i mean Nokia’s Symbian OS. with respect to software developer’s i wonder why all os’s cant work hang free(getting stuck in some situations). i even worked with sony Ericsson xperia x8, even it hangs and it has android os in it. and even i have seen many blogs related to hanging of the devices in some critical situations of all types of OS’s.
and i saw in lots of discussions, comments, etc all the people who uses devices with all types of OS’s, their first opinion is to “work with it smoothly without hanging”. so we are on our dream project which is the OS for devices which “does not hang at all”. i believe “Everything is Possible”. We will let you all know after making it possible soon.
and finally reviled that U some people talk about the bankrupts, no necessity to talk about that, that money seems to me just a joke.