Nokia switches platforms in a bid to change track; Users revolt

Nokia has announced that it is ditching open source Meego, the platform it was developing for its smart phone line up, in favor of Microsoft's Windows Phone 7.

Reports pegged the number of smart phones sold by Nokia at around 30 million per quarter. The volume marks a definite win for Microsoft's Windows Phone platform, which had seen its market share plummet to dismal levels after competition from Android and Apple's iPhone.

However, markets seemed not to share Nokia CEO Stephen Elop's buoyant view about the prospect of Nokia running Windows Phone 7. Reports on February 11 said Nokia's shares were in free-fall, dropping as much as 14 percent on the belief that the move would sink the company's prospects and erode its position. Investors, apparently, do not share Elop's enthusiasm about Nokia partnering a weak player, given that the Android and iPhone platforms could well fortify their hold on the market even before the first piece of Nokia hardware running Windows moves off a store shelf. This gains even more prominance when viewed against the backdrop of the role that Nokia plays in the economy of Finland, as a company that accounted for around a third of the market capitalization of the Helsinki Stock Exchange as late as 2007.

Finnish multinational Nokia is known for reinventing itself – from a ground-wood pulp mill and paper manufacturer, rubber manufacturer, phone / telegraph / electric cable manufacturer, car and bicycle tires, footwear, communications cables, televisions and other consumer electronics, personal computers, electricity generation machinery, robotics, capacitors, military communications and equipment (such as the SANLA M/90 device and the M61 gas mask for the Finish Army), plastics, aluminum and chemicals – even before it made its way into the industry of telecommunications, which it commanded until recently. However, the company made those transitions under a Finnish CEO - Elop is the company's first non-Fin CEO. As a former Microsoft man, he worked at the company he has now inked a deal with between January 2008 and September 2010, heading the  Business Division that looked after the Microsoft Office line of products. Prior to that, he was COO at Juniper Networks, before which he was CEO of Macromedia until it was acquired by Adobe.

Nokia plans to retain its Symbian OS for its mid-to-low-end devices, invest into the Series 40 platform and release a lone MeeGo product in 2011. The company intends to shrink its spend on research and development, while refocusing on customising and enhancing the software line for Windows Phone 7. Ovi, Nokia's applications and content store is to merge with Microsoft Marketplace and Nokia Maps will find itself tied into Microsoft's Bing and AdCenter. Microsoft will provide developer tools to Nokia, to replace Qt which will not be supported by Windows Phone 7 devices.  Bing will also be the search engine for all Nokia phones.

After the announcement, Nokia's share price fell around 14%, its biggest drop since July 2009. Comments by users and readers on Nokia's Conversation's page announcing the move, barring the occasionaly wait-and-watch view, largely decried the idea of partnering with Microsoft, with some going as far as advising the company to get a new CEO.