Microsoft and Nokia team up to fight Apple and Android
Nokia has thrown in with Windows Phone 7 to try and have some impact in the smartphone universe. Steven Elop, a former Microsoft executive and now CEO of Nokia, made the announcement today in London.
Reactions are mixed, of course, but Nokia stock has taken a beating, and about 1,000 Nokia employees have reportedly walked out in protest. Nokia has long been a leader in cell phones around the world, but has had vanishingly small sales in the US. This partnership is generally believed to be mainly a benefit for the Windows Phone 7 OS, since sales of devices using it have been disappointing.
Nokia had looked at the Google Android OS as a possibility, but ultimately threw in with the boys from Redmond. A Google exec has tweeted that "Two Turkeys do not make an Eagle," a reference to Nokia and Microsoft. Elop tweeted back "Two bicycle makers from Dayton, Ohio, one day decided to fly." It would be interesting to know what the folks at Apple think about all this reshuffling of the competition. Historically, these kinds of partnerships often come to nothing. We'll all be watching, but competition is good if it makes all our phones better. What do you think? Will Nokia-Microsoft be a powerful iPhone competitor? Or just two turkeys?
Update: A funny footnote -- Nokia released a little video about the announcement, and if you use iMovie often, you might recognize the music. That's right: to celebrate their deal with Microsoft, Nokia used an Apple app. We wish the new couple well -- they'll probably need it.
