Nokia Ties Up With Microsoft In Strategy Overhaul

Nokia and Microsoft have just announced their partnership, Nokia will be using WP7 as its primary smartphone strategy. Nokia said Friday it has entered a “broad strategic partnership” with Microsoft whose Windows Phone will now serve as the company’s primary smartphone platform.

“Nokia and Microsoft will combine our strengths to deliver an ecosystem with unrivaled global reach and scale,” said Nokia Chief Executive Stephen Elop, a former Microsoft employee. “Nokia is at a critical juncture, where significant change is necessary and inevitable in our journey forward.”

“This partnership is good for Microsoft and it is good for Nokia,” Microsoft’s Chief Executive Steve Ballmer said Friday, speaking together with Mr. Elop at a strategy briefing in London.

Under the cooperation agreement, Nokia will use Microsoft’s Bing service for search functionality across its devices, while Nokia Maps would be a core part of Microsoft’s mapping services. Nokia’s content and application store, Ovi, will be integrated with Microsoft’s Marketplace, and the MeeGo platform, which Nokia co-developed with Intel Corp., will become open-source.

Source – WSJ