1. Choose Android and be delegated to one of the hardware supplier amongst HTC, Samsung etc (not necessary the preferred one).
2. Stick with Symbian, Meego and be slower and further down road (Users don't care about the OS. Just whether it works. I would argue that developing OS internally is just playing catching up with minimal hope of overtaking the others significantly)
3. Try Microsoft and hopes the strengths compliment one another (not-too-bad windows phone 7).
I don't envy Nokia. It's a tough choice. Effectively, they are trying to move into a field just disrupted by Apple and competing on a sustaining basis. Doesn't bode well but what other alternatives do they have?
I basically agree. Look at the deal from MSFT's perspective:
1. They are desperate to get (back) into the mobile OS market. For a company that is built on OS dominance this is an existential crisis... much more than Google Search ever could be.
2. Everything they have tried so far has failed, badly. How many W7 phones have you seen in the wild?
3. Hooking up with partner like Nokia (remember: still the largest phone manufacturer, albeit mostly not smartphones) is probably the only credible move MSFT can make that may reverse this.
This implies that the deal probably is costing MSFT dearly. They needed Nokia, and Nokia knew it.
Remember: Microsoft still has more money than god. We've seen with Xbox that they're willing to use that cash to muscle into markets with entrenched players. If they want it bad enough they can be a force... imagine if they subsidize the hardware enough to make the phones almost free, buy several of the top indie iOS developers, and buy a pact with companies like EA to make new titles W7 exclusive at launch.
There's no reason to think they'll WIN.. after all, Apple and Google are hardly paupers. I'm just saying that it could get real interesting.
Or maybe it won't. MSFT might continue to make no headway in the market and Nokia will just end up going down the tubes.
Don't forget MS still controls an army of developers, and is mobilising a lot of resources to help transfer skills from winforms/asp.net to win 7 mobile development. There will be plenty of apps development for w7 as long as the platform can reach some type of critical mass.
Right, and even if they get a sweet deal from Microsoft, they are still betting on an unknown with much of their success dependent on Microsoft.
In Android, they'd build on a known platform with success or failure in their own hands. Don't like what Google is doing in the future? They'd have options without abandoning the platform. Hell, they could let Google develop the core, port Qt, use Bing maps and search, and Amazon Appstore.
Do we know enough about the terms of the partnership to know that? MS is certainly capable of screwing over their existing hardware partners (see also: PlaysForSure) My hunch is that Nokia wouldn't have gone for the deal if they're just going to be another mere supplier.
My impression is that nobody but an ex-Microsoft employee would even consider such idea.
This partnership benefits Microsoft's executives in the mobile division, who will have their vindication in a major phone maker going with their platform instead of Android. Their bonuses will be outlandish this year. It hardly benefits Nokia, who is betting the company on an unknown platform nobody else is betting on.
A friend of mine usually said that when you see two lines in the bank, one being much shorter than the other, you can bet the short one is the wrong line for you.
I should have split my comment - I didn't really mean to imply that the reason his time was quite short was because I don't think he performed at the same level of Sinofsky.
To be clear (and fair to Elop), whether or not he was effective at his role wasn't very clear to me. What I can say is this:
* His time at Microsoft was quite short. While he may have a monetary incentive for this deal, I doubt he has any cultural ties to "go Microsoft"
* His impact on MS was (to me, anyway) minimal. He seemed to be in charge of keeping the ship going in a straight line, without the pressure of changing direction. There definitely wasn't anything like what is going on at Nokia to "test his mettle", so to speak.
"A friend of mine usually said that when you see two lines in the bank, one being much shorter than the other, you can bet the short one is the wrong line for you."
a bit OT but worth it nonetheless:
my father always sas than whenever there is bureaucracy involved (i.e. the DMV, embassies, other government departments, etc.) one should choose the shortest line - it means that the clerk in place there is probably the most efficient and less inclined to play "power games" with you.
Served me right on several occasions.
I have missed several trains because of this, the ticket box with the shortest line was usually the one when some clueless grandma sieged the cashier with endless stream of questions about the ticket and travel directions and who knows what, with only few last remaining people, who have invested so much of their time that they couldn't justify leaving for another, longer, queue line.
Yeah, I've encountered those as well. "Hi, I'd like to go to Madrid, from Copenhagen, utilizing only local trains, and going through Vienna - can you tell me the connections?"
don't they already have major manufacturers producing wp7 phones? I am quite sure I have seen a commercial showing a samsung phone with WP7 installed (and android as a second option)
HTC, once known as High Tech Computer,
is a Taiwanese company that began making
phone sets using Microsoft software in
2002. By 2005, it had grown to sales
of $2.2 billion, double that of the year
before, making it the fastest growing
tech company that year according to
BusinessWeek.
HTC grew by jumping on bandwagons. Windows Mobile 6 was the product with an established market.
Furthermore, Microsoft engaged HTC in many matters of industrial design, and all these competencies allowed them to effectively move from being a PC company to a mobile phone company.
The situation for Nokia is somewhat different. MS is no longer the dominant platform in the mobile space.
However, MS still has the advantage of outlook/exchange being the dominant enterprise email solution. If MS can do a good job of integrating features like Sharepoint into WP7, then it has a strong position to defend.
IIRC Microsoft invested in Apple at their low point, and also agreed to continue to support their Office suite on Apple computers. I would call that a partnership.
Yeah, others mentioned this lower in the thread. I'm not so sure that this would be a good example of a partnership, because Microsoft didn't really get much from Apple.
Apple got back some legitimacy as a platform. I remember betting at the time that they'd be out of business before 2000 (this was before the return of Jobs). Microsoft gave them the ability to say, we're going to be around for a while, and our customers are going to be able to get work done.
What Microsoft gained (aside from a good return on investment) was something that they could point to when negotiating with the DOJ. A strong Apple was absolutely required for Microsoft to remain intact. So what Microsoft really got wasn't a partner, but a competitor.
> What Microsoft gained (aside from a good return on investment) was something that they could point to when negotiating with the DOJ. A strong Apple was absolutely required for Microsoft to remain intact. So what Microsoft really got wasn't a partner, but a competitor.
Yeah, it was a sort of cynical "partnership". I think your analysis is bang-on.
Microsoft also got a patent cross-licensing deal with Apple, IE shipping as the default browser on Macs (a blow against Netscape), and a settlement on some messy lawsuits.
(I imagine a lot of lawyers got paid, too... what a mess!)
Android is for a large deal open source. That would enable Nokia to continue their Meego strategy, along with Qt. They don't need to develop the API and core sets, but can focus on the apps (higher level). That means either laying off a whole bunch of devvers, or moving them to app development.
Also, linux can use some decent developed UI toolkits. Nokia easily can cut a deal with Google for Android store revenue sharing. Especially if Microsoft is in the market, too for alliance candidates.
Choosing Android makes actually quite a lot of sense to me, from a Nokia POV.
I think an important point is also that Nokia isn't abandoning MeeGo and their own OSes. Those I imagine will play a significant role in the future (again).
Hold on. Nokia does a ridiculous amount of research into cell phone technology. I agree it's a side project now, but do you think they seriously are "abandoning" it? Where have you heard that? I don't think Nokia would completely throw away that much good work...
They are not and will not be pushing it as their primary platform. It will remain as a research project as it has been. In my book that means abandoning; there won't be any "ecosystem" for it.
Am i the only person here who finds this really exciting?Windows 7 is probably the best piece of software I have ever used, and yes I have a MacBook pro and an iPhone so I'm not some fanboy. So the world's best OS is about to be put on some of the best mobile hardware available, with two juggernaut companies putting their very survival on the line. I am so glad the market is getting shaken up like this, no matter what happens the consumers will be the ultimate winners of such brutal competition. Android can no longer coast on being the only good alternative to iOS.
> Am i the only person here who finds this really exciting?
Microsoft execs from the mobile division will have huge bonuses this year. They must be very excited.
> Windows 7 is probably the best piece of software I have ever used
I had to force myself not to laugh. What have you been using, pal?
> and yes I have a MacBook pro and an iPhone
Seriously, what's so good about Windows 7?
> so I'm not some fanboy
Nobody accused you of being one, yet.
> with two juggernaut companies putting their very survival on the line
Only Nokia is dying. Microsoft will go on for at least a couple decades before it hits the ground.
> no matter what happens the consumers will be the ultimate winners of such brutal competition
We will have the same number of competing platforms (Nokia won't be the only one selling WP7) at the cost of losing one stellar hardware supplier. No. That won't be good.
The thing is, with Android, when Samsung makes something good to it, everybody benefits, LG, Motorola, the Apache Harmony folks and it trickles all the way to Red Hat, IBM and even Oracle. Even Microsoft, because a lot of their stack is BSD-ish and Microsoft can incorporate it, no questions asked, into whatever products they want. If Nokia ever succeeds in making something that kind of makes WinMo7 suck less (I gather it's a somewhat decent platform) Microsoft stands to benefit the most.
Windows 7 isn't Windows Mobile 7, is it? The latter has been a full rewrite, so in many ways, it's completely different from everything else they have.
Not that it couldn't be good, just that you cannot automatically think that it is from Windows 7's qualities.
I didn't know that, but in no way does it really dampen my enthusiasm. To me, Win7 proved Microsoft was still King of OS's, so I can't wait to see their upcoming flagship mobile product. I am sure they will take the lessons of Android and iOS to heart with the first major launch of this partnership. This is a huge opportunity for both companies to take the mobile world by storm. Color me disappointed if this fails, but I think it has more potential to shake up the industry than anything else announced so far thus year.
I heartily agree with you on this point. I was quite suprised to see the lack of enthusiasm on this announcement.
I'm someone thats used a Mac quite extensively over the past year, and i have an iPhone too. Yet, i've just gone back to a Windows machine. Windows 7. Its a damn good OS, and you are right.
I hope they can find a way of bringing that goodness to their mobile platform. Lots of nice little surprises in Windows 7, so im hoping we'll see that in the Mobile OS when it matures a little more.
Everyone said the XBOX was going to be a disaster, and regardless of HOW MS did it, they STILL did it.
MS is perfectly capable of winning when it really, really wants too.
Will many developers seriously considering WP7, just for the ease of migration, and Nokia's logistics; executed properly this COULD be a win win.
Good catch. Windows has never been the king of OS's ever. They've been spectacular at marketing to Corporations, etc., but their OS's have always been "within range" or worse than the alternatives.
As a platform, WP7 is great (mostly). The problem is that there is a dearth of quality apps. I installed the Youtube app, and it's just a wrapper for their mobile page! Really?
