Microsoft + Nokia = FTW?

So it was about a month ago that Microsoft and Nokia took to the stage at a special press event, around the time of the Mobile World Congress conference, to announce a formalised “strategic partnership” going forward. This involves Nokia replacing Meego as the operating system of choice for their high-end smartphone products with Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7, in a deal that is reportedly worth around $1b. It’s an audacious move, particularly given that it seems to have been borne directly out of the appointment of former Microsoft executive Stephen Elop as the new Nokia CEO. For Nokia to drop their previously watertight stance that all hardware and software must be done “in house”, and essentially ring-in the entire software platform for their devices, marks a very big change of direction for the Finnish mobile giant.

I honestly think that this is the right move for both Microsoft and Nokia. Windows Phone 7 is an excellent mobile platform, but right now the one thing it lacks is a significant hardware differentiator to go with the large software differences it has when compared to both iOS and Android. All of Microsoft’s current hardware partners (HTC, LG, Samsung, and Dell) all produce Android devices as well, and anyone who’s looked at the first generation of WP7 devices will know that what we’ve been served up with is basically the same hardware as what featured in these companies 2010 Android offerings. My own HTC Mozart 7, for example, is almost identical to the Google Android Nexus One, launched in January 2010. Nokia will bring some great exclusive hardware offerings to the OS, and one that will really help the platform to stand out in a crowded marketplace.

Nokia is also offering to pump a lot of its software technologies back into Windows Phone 7, which also makes a lot of sense. While Microsoft has no shortage of people developing software for it (we’ve already got over 10k worth of apps available), some areas it could benefit from are elements that Nokia are already excellent at. One area in particular is the promise for them to port their Ovi Maps application to WP7, presumably integrating into the existing Bing Maps software architecture. This would represent a big move forward for the platform. In general, though, I think there’s one thing all users of Windows Pone 7 agree on, and that is this - the rate of software development on the core OS is sadly lacking right now, and needs speeding up. Hopefully, with Nokia involved, this will happen.

While it’s going to be around 12 - 18 months before the first WP7-powered Nokia handsets become available, I look forward to seeing what comes from this new collaboration. It can only be a good thing for Microsoft, for Nokia, and certainly for Windows Phone 7. Where this leaves Microsoft’s existing hardware partners I am not sure, particularly if the rumours about Nokia being able to more heavily customise the WP7 user experience come to pass. But given these companies all have vested interests in Android in addition to Windows Phone 7, so I doubt someone like HTC or Samsung is ever going to put as much effort into WP7 as I think Nokia will. So I could my next phone be a Nokia phone? It’s very definitely possible, especially as we’re expecting Windows Phone 8 to come out in late 2012. This is all greats news for WP7 fans of any ilk.