Nokia is on fire, and now Microsoft is weeing on it to put it out. That’s pretty much what happened overnight, with the two companies announcing an alliance to make Microsoft’s faltering Windows Phone OS the core of Nokia’s future smartphones.
Here’s the amazingly rousing mission statement from Nokia:
There are other mobile ecosystems. We will disrupt them.
There will be challenges. We will overcome them.
Success requires speed. We will be swift.
Fight them on the beaches, Stephen. Fight them on the beaches.
Change into something more casual, then fight them on the beaches. We’ve written something about this so you can all have a good laugh in the comments, basically.
It’s smooth to use, the 1080p display is sharp, clear and bright, the device is extremely light and thin and therefore very pocketable and portable — much more so than other 5-inch phones we’ve used. And yet… we’re a bit unimpressed by the overall package…
A relatively high-spec smartphone, with a 4.5″ display running at 480 x 854 resolution and powered by a 1.2GHz dual-core processor, plus the Ascend G510 arrives running Android 4.1.1 — albeit potentially hindered by Huawei only sticking 512MB of RAM inside it..
The Panasonic Eluga marks the company’s return to the European mobile phone scene years after several years of absence, and it’s come back to us with a moderately high-spec Android model that features a rather stylish, slim case.
Sony returns with an all-new mobile design for 2012, pairing a dual-core processor with a 720p display. It’s a lovely phone, but is it enough to end our Samsung and HTC obsession?
LG’s updated Prada phone comes with an absolutely crazy black & white theme, but is it just for fashionable suit wearers who want to make themselves look a bit more interesting?
tomfrogger
/ February 11, 2011Such a pity. They are doomed.
Simon
/ February 11, 2011Nokia R.I.P
You just did a Motorola, and killed your business. You went from a burning platform to another burning platform.
No doubt your ex-Microsoft CEO had something to do with this decision, I wonder where his priorities were…
James Duncan
/ February 11, 2011“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.”
Ouch. What happens to QT then? I’m all kinds of astonished, they appear to have almost junked the sw side of the company in favour of giving up control of the OS and application layer they run on each handset.
David
/ February 11, 20112 mighty companies that have fallen on the mobile front. Now join-up hoping to reverse the trend on the slippery downhill road.
Nokia have been slipping in the Android market but, to ditch Android all together and join Microsoft at the hip is not good business practice.
We will in the months come come see if this is the right course for both companies.
Mark
/ February 11, 2011I think the best comment was the tweet from the Google Android guy:
“Two turkeys do not make an eagle”
http://techcrunch.com/2011/02/09/nokia-microsoft/
Ken McKean
/ February 11, 2011Love the ‘two turkeys don’t make an eagle’s comment.
Anton Gully
/ February 11, 2011@David you sure Nokia ever had an Android phone? I’m drawing a blank.
There were shades of Obama’s recent State of the Union address about this. I’m actually cautiously optimistic for Nokia’s future. WM7 is decent if you’re not a tinkerer.
David
/ February 11, 2011@Anton
I think I was thinking of the N900 which was hacked back in Aug/Sept last year.
But I do like Mark’s line from Techcrunch.
Hands0n
/ February 11, 2011@Anton Gully – From the outset Nokia rubbished Android, said it would be a complete irrelevance and fail miserably. 18 months on and that claim is looking completely stupid. But Nokia cannot go to Android without losing face. And the corporation could not face that prospect.
Thus, Microsoft WP7 was the only avenue open to them in that scenario.
These two have made their pact. Now we must wait and see if they really can be as agile as Elop says they can be. Because for sure, iOS and Android are now going to do their utmost to increase the technological advantage and distance from WP7. And both OS already have a substantial head start.
Nizzy
/ February 11, 2011Way to commit hara kiri there bro. Cya
Joey
/ February 11, 2011I wouldn’t rule out Nokia, they make very good hardware. Their problem was Symbian, they stopped developing it. The symbian UI is terrible compared to iOS and Android but the underlying OS is actually very good. Nokia badly needs a decent OS in order to compete and windows phone 7 by all accounts is actually pretty good. Nokias hardware expertise married with Microsofts decent OS should make for some nice phones.
Shane
/ February 11, 2011Was hoping one day Nokia would use Android. This partnership is doomed to fail.
k0zmic
/ February 11, 2011I don’t think this will fail, there’s enough Android OEM’s as it is. This is probably good for Nokia since they now have an entire ecosystem, music, games and apps. Also, Android is effectively a race to the bottom, Nokia don’t want that, they want higher margins compared to other Android vendors. Even if they did, they’d have to differentiate (probably via software) which would probably just fragment Android further, do we really need another UI? The real winner is Microsoft, they gained another OEM, took out a competing OS and they also got the Ovi Maps – maybe to compete with Google Maps. Windows Phone will probably be more competitive in the next few months, after the Copy and Paste and New Browser update. Nokia won’t completely abandon MeeGo either, so they can provide that as their own unique OS if they develop it enough.
Gary C
/ February 11, 2011It also means Nokia now has to pump yet more cash into R&D and its next smartphone will be absolutely amazingly important. Another flop after all this kerfuffle and it’ll be carnage.
k0zmic
/ February 11, 2011That’s true. They do have the money and resources for R&D though. At least we know their next smartphone will have fairly good specs compared to previous efforts since it’ll have to conform to the Windows Phone 7 chassis. It’ll be interesting to see who supplies their chip, Qualcomm, Samsung,TI or perhaps Nvidia?
The_Omega_Man
/ February 12, 2011Android has shown no sign of a race to the bottom as yet. The phone still command some of the highest premiums in the market today. The beauty is that you can enter that market at any level you wish, to help differentiate yourself. The problem is that Nokia would need to spend R&D dollars to skin Android in some way to differentiate themselves. With WP7 that is not necessary at this point as all the player look and feel the same. Relatively crippled, but the same none the less. So then it becomes all about the hardware (existing) and the brand recognition, with the lease amount of R&D dollars spent.
k0zmic
/ February 12, 2011I agree that some phones command high premiums and good point regarding being able to enter any market segment as a form of differentiation – which is probably a big advantage for Android OEM’s since they can in a sense, ‘cover all their bases’. Windows Phone 7 is ‘crippled’ for a reason though; to prevent software fragmentation at least to an extent therefore, providing customers assurance that applications and games will work on their device. Also, it means that updates can be pushed out in a more timely manner. Consequently, customers can then have a range of hardware choice while knowing their phone won’t be abandoned by OEM’s and should be able to use the overwhelming majority of apps and games. Now, if customers realise this I get the impression that Windows Phone 7, (perhaps with Nokia’s hardware choice and branding) will seem the more appealing option compared to say Android, at least in the upper end of the market where customer service/quality is valued most highly. As a result, would Android vendors still be able to gain high margins even when Windows Phone 7 has a more controlled ecosystem with less risk? Or would it force them to provide updates quicker and provide more assurance?
Shane
/ February 12, 2011I think i jumped the gun a bit, you make some good points. Time will tell i guess!
k0zmic
/ February 12, 2011Thanks. You could still be right, iOS and Android do pose incredibly tough competition since they’re both established players, plus with WebOS being resurrected Nokia/Microsoft have a number of obstacles in their way, although if WebOS launches late (after the iPhone 5 and the numerous upcoming Android phone) with sub-standard marketing their chance is probably gone.