Nokia and Microsoft form partnership

Nokia has joined forces with Microsoft in an attempt to regain ground lost to Apple and Android-based smartphones.

The deal would see Nokia use the Windows phone operating system for its smartphones, the company said.
Microsoft's Bing will power Nokia's search services, while Nokia Maps would be a core part of Microsoft's mapping services.
Earlier this week Nokia chief executive Stephen Elop sent a memo to staff warning that the company was in crisis.

Speaking at a meeting to launch the new strategic partnership Mr Elop said that "the game has changed from a battle of devices to a war of ecosystems".
"An ecosystem with Microsoft and Nokia has unrivalled scale around the globe," he said.
Microsoft's chief executive Steve Ballmer was also present at the launch, underlining the importance of the deal to the computing giant.
The new strategy means Nokia's existing smartphone operating systems will be gradually sidelined.

Symbian, which runs on most of the company's current devices will become a "franchise platform", although the company expects to sell approximately 150 million more Symbian devices in future.

The announcement is widely seen as a response to the growing pressure from other smartphone platforms, including Google's Android and Apple's iPhone.
"This is a clear admission that Nokia's own-platform strategy has faltered," said Ben Wood, an analyst with research firm CCS: Insight.
"Microsoft is the big winner in this deal, but there are no silver bullets for either company given the strength of iPhone and Android," he added.
Nokia's share of the smartphone market fell from 38% to 28% in 2010, according to monitoring firm IDC.
Nokia's upcoming Meego operating system also appears to have been sidelined, to some extent.
According to the company statement: "MeeGo will place increased emphasis on longer-term market exploration of next-generation devices."
The new platform was expected to form the core of Nokia's future smartphone and tablet strategy.
The company says it still plans to ship one Meego device by the end of 2011.
For Magnus Rehle, the Nordic managing director of research firm Greenwich Consulting, Nokia may have difficulty juggling its three operating systems: Windows, Symbian and MeeGo.
"Three platforms is a lot to work with. I'm not sure there is room for so many platforms," he said.
And, as with any tie-up, there could be clashes between the two firms.
Earlier in the week, Mr Elop had sent a tough memo to all Nokia staff, saying that the company was on the cusp of radical change.
The memo, published first by technology website Engadget, warned that it was standing on a "burning platform".
"Elop has to convince the best people to stay and some people will inevitably be jumping off the burning platform," said Mr Rehle.
Nokia's bombshell of an announcement's going to require some serious internal tinkering to execute upon the new strategy. As such, there's a big-time reorganization effort being kicked off today in order to accelerate the company towards its new goals. Here are some of the highlights:

• Nokia's "applications and content store" (Ovi) will be integrated into Microsoft Marketplace
• Nokia Maps will be at the heart of Microsoft's Bing and AdCenter
• Microsoft will provide developer tools to Nokia (So no Qt?)
• Symbian is now described as a "franchise platform" with Nokia planning to sell 150 million Symbian devices into the future
• MeeGo emphasis will be on longer-term exploration with plans to ship "a MeeGo-related product" later this year (not products)

With this, Nokia share have dropped since the anouncement and this shows how bad the move is.