It's official: Nokia bets on Microsoft for smartphones

Stockmarket reaction

As I speak, on the Euronext Nokia is down about 9% and Microsoft up 3%, which is what anyone would expect: Nokia finally admitting defeat and Microsoft's mobile division getting supercharged.

In the words of Vader

Nooooooooooooooo! Oh Nokia, what have you done by getting into bed with Microsoft. Android was the way to go. RIP-

Cheerio Nokia

Oh well, I guess Nokia had a few good years.

It was nice knowing you...

'Bye then Nokia

Shame. I love my N900, and my N770 and 800 before it, but it looks like it will be my last Nokia phone - unless they actually, ever, ship the N9 with Meego.

So I'm left with no choice but Android for my next phone I guess. How depressing.

Possible success

To be the lone contrarian here, let me predict SUCCESS!

They just have to create the 30$ Winphone with bells and whistles to show the world that there are cheap, powerful alternatives to the fancy Apple and Andorid offerings. Ooh, and those phones should appear within the year.

Let's see that multibillion-dollar war-chest again, and let's see it committed to a brighter world with lots of windows!

RIP Nokia

What a pity. I've always liked Nokia phones, but I think this will swing me to Android when I need to replace the current one.

Should Have Gone Android

At least in the short term until Meego was completed.

Nokia, welcome to the world of dull MS where your WP7 phones will have all the imagination and design flair of Steve Ballmer's wardrobe.

I wonder what's going to happen to Qt ?

Great news, will help both a lot.

Rather unfashionable for the Reg it seems but WP7 is a fantastic OS. Whilst upgrading my HD2 from the POS that is WP6.5 to Android has been great for me it still feels old, clunky and fugly compared to my WP7 Optimus.

Looking forward to some nice hardware from Nokia and glad that increased visibility will help even more apps appear on the platform.

Also really pleased that the usual MS haters are so put out, fantastic.

No surprise

This is of no surprise really is it? Come on Ex M$ bod joins Nokia, what do you think he's going to do? There is only one thing he knows, people don't like change or stepping out of their comfort zone, so he takes the company in a direct he knows best.

I was so hoping that Nokia would be brave enough to do something different, step outside the box, develop something for the enlightened people of the world, but sadly this is not going to be the case. I probably makes sense to Nokia, make phones for the masses and clones out there, if I wanted to be a clone, I'd have bought an Iphone, I want freedom, expression and the right to do what I want, now there is nothing that embraces that, they say they will develop Meego, but that'll disappear soon for sure, Sad Times :'(

RIP Nokia

Nokia has made many bad decisions in the past. But this one beats everything.

I loved Nokia and I'm devastated seeing it practically dead.

Which one looks happiest?

Well, if it turns out that Nokia are paying for WinPhone7, ever, then Ballmer has a right to grin, it could've just bought him a couple more years of chair throwing in Redmond.

I haven't stopped laughing yet...

Images of 2 drunks propping each other up or 2 dinosaurs looking anxiously at the skies come to mind!

Nokia's problems stem from being unable to bring to market good engineering and design ideas with sufficient speed, neither of which will be significantly helped by trying to use Windows.

Micosoft's problems stem from having built a paranoid, inward-looking software empire that produces mediocre products slowly and fosters developer interest through fear rather than enthusiasm. Their prospects may be marginally improved by this announcement, but as long as they are unable to change their corporate culture ( leap off THEIR burning platform, if you will ), they will continue to be an also-ran in new makets.

I thought Meego had been too long in gestation to garner much support, but at least it was a move in sync with the general trend towards *nix based and open development models; looking backwards towards Microsoft seems poor judgement.

From a developer point of view, I want to construct my toolset around what makes most sense to me, picking and choosing what is best for my requirements. Both Symbian and Windows ( for different reasons ) make this difficult, and therefore are unattractive.

From a user point of view, I want a wide selection of different device experiences to choose from. Most people grow up with rapidly-changing technology now, and are quite able to learn any interface that is put in front of them.

From this point of view, Android has it right in that the underlying platform is a consistent ecosystem, but the interface can reflect the needs of the device it is running on, or the market the device is aimed at. Windows Mobile, on the other hand. has just returned to the Microsoft dark ages of preventing differentiation and providing a one-size-fits-nobody experience. No thanks.

Nokia probably should have chosen to go with some combination of Meego, Android and maybe even talked to Mark Shuttleworth at Canonical ( Ubuntu ) for their software needs, whilst getting their head round the challenge of resolving their design and engineering problems.

When it comes down to it though, Nokia are a big company that want control ( look at how their behaviour destroyed the promise of Symbian ) and Microsoft are a big company that want control. There will be tears before bedtime...