Nokia To Use Windows Mobile in Smart Phones

[Karthik R 246]

Nokia and Microsoft sign definitive agreement, bring Windows Phone handsets closer to realization

Microsoft and Nokia's industry-altering announcement of a strategic alliance back in February has today been bolstered with the signing of a definitive agreement between the two companies. In announcing the inking of the paperwork, the Microkia crew point out that they're already hard at work developing "a portfolio" of Nokia Windows Phone devices, which will be shipping "in volume" in 2012, but there's still a twinkling hope that they can get something out on the market in 2011. Nokia devs have started porting key applications and services to Windows Phone, with mapping and navigation getting a highlight mention, while there will indeed be a "Nokia-branded global application store that leverages the Windows Marketplace infrastructure." Notably, this is described as a single portal where devs can serve their apps to users of Windows Phone, Symbian and Series 40 devices -- it'll be interesting to see how they work out the details of that. There's also confirmation that Microsoft will pay Nokia multiple billions of dollars as part of the agreement, some of which will be spent on completing an intellectual property-sharing agreement between the two teams. So yes, the third ecosystem is well and truly on its way.

Press Release

Nokia and Microsoft sign definitive agreement ahead of schedule

Nokia Corp

NOK | 4/21/2011 6:12:28 AM

Espoo, Finland, Apr 21, 2011 (Thomson Reuters ONE via COMTEX News Network) --

Key contributions to new global mobile ecosystem agreed and significant progress made on engineering of new products

Nokia Corporation

Stock exchange release

April 21, 2011 at 13.10 (CET +1)

Espoo, Finland and Redmond, US - Nokia (NYSE: NOK) and Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) today announced the signing of a definitive agreement on a partnership that will result in a new global mobile ecosystem, utilizing the very complementary assets of both companies. Completed ahead of schedule, the definitive agreement is consistent with the joint announcement made on February 11.

In addition to agreeing to the terms of their partnership, including joint contributions to the development of the new ecosystem, Nokia and Microsoft also announced significant progress on the development of the first Nokia products incorporating Windows Phone. With hundreds of personnel already engaged on joint engineering efforts, the companies are collaborating on a portfolio of new Nokia devices. Nokia has also started porting key applications and services to operate on Windows Phone and joint outreach has begun to third party application developers.

"At the highest level, we have entered into a win-win partnership," said Stephen Elop, President and CEO of Nokia Corporation. "It is the complementary nature of our assets, and the overall competitiveness of that combined offering, that is the foundation of our relationship."

"Our agreement is good for the industry," said Steve Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft. "Together, Nokia and Microsoft will innovate with greater speed, and provide enhanced opportunities for consumers and our partners to share in the success of our ecosystem."

The relationship is structured around four broad areas:

1. A combination of complementary assets, which make the partnership truly unique, including:
   
   • Nokia to deliver mapping, navigation, and certain location-based services to the Windows Phone ecosystem. Nokia will build innovation on top of the Windows Phone platform in areas such as imaging, while contributing expertise on hardware design and language support, and helping to drive the development of the Windows Phone platform. Microsoft will provide Bing search services across the Nokia device portfolio as well as contributing strength in productivity, advertising, gaming, social media and a variety of other services. The combination of navigation with advertising and search will enable better monetization of Nokia's navigation assets and completely new forms of advertising revenue.
     
   • Joint developer outreach and application sourcing, to support the creation of new local and global applications, including making Windows Phone developer registration free for all Nokia developers.
     
   • Opening a new Nokia-branded global application store that leverages the Windows Marketplace infrastructure. Developers will be able to publish and distribute applications through a single developer portal to hundreds of millions of consumers that use Windows Phone, Symbian and Series 40 devices.
     
   • Contribution of Nokia's expertise in operator billing to ensure participants in the Windows Phone ecosystem can take advantage of Nokia's billing agreements with 112 operators in 36 markets.
     

[*]Microsoft will receive a running royalty from Nokia for the Windows Phone platform, starting when the first Nokia products incorporating Windows Phone ship. The royalty payments are competitive and reflect the large volumes that Nokia expects to ship, as well as a variety of other considerations related to engineering work to which both companies are committed. Microsoft delivering the Windows Phone platform to Nokia will enable Nokia to significantly reduce operating expenses.

[*]In recognition of the unique nature of Nokia's agreement with Microsoft and the contributions that Nokia is providing, Nokia will receive payments measured in the billions of dollars.

[*]An agreement that recognizes the value of intellectual property and puts in place mechanisms for exchanging rights to intellectual property. Nokia will receive substantial payments under the agreement.

With the definitive agreement now signed, both companies will begin engaging with operators, developers and other partners to help the industry understand the benefits of joining the new ecosystem. At the same time, work will continue on developing Nokia products on the Windows Phone platform, with the aim of securing volume device shipments in 2012. The scale of both companies' mutual commitment is significant and is in keeping with the intention to build a new ecosystem based on this long-term, strategic partnership.

About Nokia

Nokia is committed to connecting people to what matters to them by combining advanced mobile technology with personalized services. More than 1.3 billion people connect to one another with a Nokia, from our most affordable voice-optimized mobile phones to advanced Internet-connected smartphones sold in virtually every market in the world. Through Ovi (www.ovi.com), people also enjoy access to maps and navigation on mobile, a rapidly expanding applications store, a growing catalog of digital music, free email and more. Nokia's NAVTEQ is a leader in comprehensive digital mapping and navigation services, and Nokia Siemens Networks is one of the leading providers of telecommunications infrastructure hardware, software and professional services globally.

Courtesy : Engadget

[Karthik R 246]

Nokia's Q1 2011: smartphone share down to 26 percent, 'more challenging' times ahead

Nokia has just published its first quarterly results in the era of its Microsoft partnership and things aren't looking too bright. Smartphone market share, which had been at 41 percent this time last year and 31 percent in January, has now dipped to 26 percent, while operating profits have taken a 17 percent tumble relative to last year. The company managed to ship one percent more phones in Q1 2011 than in Q1 2010, but its 108.5 million units was an 18 percent drop from last quarter's totals. CEO Stephen Elop describes the first quarter as solid, but warns that the second will be "more challenging." The impact of Japan's disaster earlier in the year will be felt more strongly in Q2, we're warned, with respect to component supply and logistics, while new products won't figure too strongly as Nokia intends to "start shipping the majority of our new products in the second half of the year." Elop is, however, encouraged by the "roadmap of mobile phones and Symbian smartphones" that Nokia has in store for 2011, which sounds good on the surface, but we'd be more comforted if he'd have inserted the words "Windows Phone" or "MeeGo" in that sentence too. Hit the links below to see the full financial details.

Source : Nokia (PDF)

[digitalnirvana 646]

Interesting take on the problem plaguing Nokia in an article at telegraph.co.uk.

Snake pioneer Nokia has lost its bite

Nokia has reported yet another fall in quarterly profits and warned, again, that profits will fall further this coming quarter.

More than 350m Nokia users around the world played Snake

The Finnish giant’s new Microsoft-trained chief executive, Stephen Elop, has warned staff that they must embrace “radical change” or risk being consumed by “burning flames”.

But the only radical change Elop has instilled at the 145-year-old company has been to throw out Nokia’s own (admittedly failing) operating system in favour of jumping into bed with Microsoft’s Windows Phone.

The real problem with Nokia is that no-one in western Europe or North America has really wanted a Nokia phone since it released Snake in 1997.

It’s sad to admit it but I bought the 3210 solely because I could direct an animated reptile around a 2-inch screen in search of squares of animated food. More than 350m other losers around the world also played Snake, making it the world’s most popular game at the time.

Now that Apple, which released another set of mindbending results last night, has got the high-end smartphone market all but sewn up, it’s probably about time Elop set about creating a new snake.

Edited April 21, 2011 by dipanlahiri

[digitalnirvana 646]

[Karthik R 246]

Nokia to cut 7,000 jobs, outsources Symbian activities to Accenture

Nokia Corp. the world's biggest mobile phone maker, on Wednesday said it plans to outsource its 3,000 Symbian software developers to Accenture PLC and to cut its global workforce by 4,000 by the end of 2012 as a part of plans to cut costs by EUR1 billion.

Nokia's Chief Executive Stephen Elop said Nokia's new focus following its partnership with Microsoft Corp. also means it faces reductions in its workforce. "This is a difficult reality, and we are working closely with our employees and partners to identify long-term re-employment programs for the talented people of Nokia," he said.

The employees being reallocated are located in China, Finland, India, the U.K. and U.S., and will initially work on Symbian software for Nokia. Over time, Accenture and Nokia will seek opportunities to retrain and redeploy transitioned employees.

- foxbusiness

[KanagaDeepan 1,084]

NOKIA murdered symbian... Symbian would have lived few more years atleast, if NOKIA didn't buy them...

[Karthik R 246]

Nokia will abandon its Ovi mobile services brand as it prepares to sell smartphones based on Microsoft's Windows Phone software, it said in a blog posting on Monday.

Starting with services on some new Nokia phones in July and August, Ovi services will be rebranded as Nokia services in a transition that the company expects will continue into next year, according to a blog post. For example, Ovi Maps will become Nokia Maps.

It is only a name-changing exercise and the services will continue as before. It's likely that anybody buying a new Nokia smartphone or mobile phone later this year will see the new branding on services included on them. Users that already own a Nokia phone will see the new branding through future software updates, Nokia said.

[st_7 138]

It seems that Nokia is going at full throttle in reorganizing itself. Here is the another announcement from Nokia to reaffirm that fact. Today the company announced it will rename all the Ovi services to Nokia services. This move aims to unite and strengthen the Nokia brand as a whole.

This announcement followed a series of measures or steps in the process of companies reorganization plan like replacing its CEO, migration to Windows Phone 7, changing its font, moving Symbian outside Nokia and dismissing 4000 employees.

According to Nokia there will be no other changes besides the rebranding, which should end somewhere in 2012. It promises a "smooth and seamless transition" that will change nothing but the Ovi word in various services. So, why the change question got a short and simple answer – "By centralizing our services identity under one brand, not two, we will reinforce the powerful master brand of Nokia and unify our brand architecture".

For us(customers), we don't care what administrative decisions Nokia takes in its reorganization process, rather we want a Solid phone on a solid platform,or may be a Meego device.

Source

[parin 857]

if Nokia doesnt joins hands with windows where does it stand

Sent from my SCH-I500 using Tapatalk

[digitalnirvana 646]

Nokia should not stick with Ovi store as WinMo has app store already.

[sougatadc 358]

In any case Nokia will be a loser. It has overstayed with an obsolete OS (Symbian) and now getting ready to plunge into a bigger field where already big players have made there presence secure. Only die-hard Nokia fans will buy Win-Mo from Nokia.

[Karthik R 246]

Nokia's first Windows Phone: images and video, codenamed 'Sea Ray'

Ok, this one's odd. In fact, we didn't believe the images until a video just surfaced showing Nokia CEO, Stephen Elop, foolishly asking a crowd of people to "put away their cameras" for the unveiling of something "super confidential," codenamed "Sea Ray." Naturally, a few people ignored the plea for "no pictures please" and, indeed, someone leaked what appears to be a Nokia-produced video of the unveiling to the blogosphere. What is it? Why, it's Nokia's first Windows Phone. While it looks nearly identical to the just announced N9, the different LED placement on the back (in line with the same 8 megapixel Carl Zeiss lens) confirms it's a new device as does the additional hardware button (for shutter release, we presume) along the side. And the fact that it's running Windows Phone 7 Mango seals the deal.

Credit : engadget Check out the link for the video.

[RavitejaSrigiriraju 10]

u actually said it or i'm just dreaming ????

nokia is the only manufacturing company behalf of having kickass hardware and quality still stuck to symbian for which it is a screwed up company now, if they had abandoned symbian years before and switched to android they would have surpassed apple's supremacy in smart phone manufacturing( though apple just surpassed in this quarter technically) ,,,,

when heard nokia was abandoning symbian slowy i thought now its the time for nokia's badguys to have a real badass software !!! but they

NOKIA murdered symbian... Symbian would have lived few more years atleast, if NOKIA didn't buy them...

Edited August 11, 2011 by RavitejaSrigiriraju

[RavitejaSrigiriraju 10]

two big mistakes of nokia!!!

1. sticking to symbian( which is a mistake to stuck up with it when the whole world moved on)

2. using wm (it is a blunder , when they have a larger market with android and they could turned their ovi store into android app store just like htc )

Edited August 11, 2011 by RavitejaSrigiriraju

[Karthik R 246]

Microsoft tipped to buy Nokia smartphone division in 1H 2012‎ (or just another rumor?) link

Edited December 14, 2011 by Karthik R

[Karthik R 246]

Nokia Was Paid $250 Million in Just One Quarter for Windows Phone Adoption

Have you ever wondered why Nokia chose to use Microsoft’s Windows Phone platform for its future handsets, and not Google’s Android operating system? Or why it didn’t just launch devices for both markets like Samsung or HTC? Well, it may be something to do with quarterly payments of around $250 million.

The Finnish company released its fourth quarter financial results today, which revealed it had received a rather large sum of money from its partner over in Redmond. In the fourth quarter of 2011, Nokia was paid its first quarterly “platform support payment” of $250 million. And it won’t be the last; these payments are expected to “measure in the billions” over time.

Our broad strategic agreement with Microsoft includes platform support payments from Microsoft to us as well as software royalty payments from us to Microsoft. In the fourth quarter 2011, we received the first quarterly platform support payment of USD 250 million (EUR 180 million).

We have a competitive software royalty structure, which includes minimum software royalty commitments. Over the life of the agreement, both the platform support payments and the minimum software royalty commitments are expected to measure in the billions of US Dollars.

But despite Microsoft’s payment and the popularity of its new Lumia devices, Nokia reported a €1.07 billion (approx. $1.4 billion) loss in its fourth quarter, as sales declined by 21% year-on-year. But it did see an increase over the third quarter, with 19.6 million smartphones and 93.9 million mobile devices sold, representing increases of 17% and 5% respectively.

Edited January 27, 2012 by Karthik R