Published on the 23/02/2011 | Written by Newsdesk
Opinions may be split on the Microsoft and Nokia partnership but most agree the Finnish mobile phone maker did not have much choice…
Ovum prinicpal analyst Tony Cripps says the move, which was announced this month, will be key to Nokia’s survival as it falls behind competitors in the smart phone market.
“There were few short term options available to the company to help it get back on terms with Apple and especially the Android masses,” Cripps says.
“This is a bold decision by Nokia but absolutely the right one, both for itself and for Microsoft given the drastically changed landscape for smartphones in the past couple of years.
Apple and Android have overtaken Nokia on smartphone shipments this year, and are rapidly gaining in overall market share.
Analyst Adam Leach says Nokia has the opportunity to take on the role that Intel has in the Windows PC market.
The new partnership will replace the Symbian operating system with Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 as the software for Nokia’s smartphones.
“It’s ironic that the sole purpose of Symbian was to stop Microsoft from repeating their domination of the PC market in handsets.”
He says Nokia should be wary of ending up merely a vehicle for Microsoft should it fail to differentiate from other Windows Phone 7 makers such as HTC, Samsung and LG.
Analyst Nick Dillon says Microsoft is set to benefit greatly from the deal.
“For Microsoft this is nothing less than a coup and the shot in the arm its new Windows Phone 7 platform needed, which despite winning acclaim for its innovative design and user experience has so far failed to set the market alight in terms of sales.”
Some critics are saying the partnership took too long and both companies, already individually behind in the smartphone market, may still struggle to catch up to competitors.
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer says there will be challenge but he hopes to swiftly overcome them. He says there will be a process of disenfranchising other handset makers that Windows use.
There will be continued but limited support for Symbian and MeeGo platforms.
