Nokia partner with Microsoft to make a mark in the market

Last week Nokia announced a “new global mobile ecosystem” that they plan to create with their new partner, Microsoft. A huge step away from Stephen Elop, Nokia President and CEO, describing Nokia as a man “standing on a burning platform,” albeit in an internal memo.

This broad strategic partnership will hopefully help Nokia’s position in the market. Google’s Android platform and the Apple iPhone have certainly taken over, much to Elop’s distress, particularly in terms of the high-end smartphone market.

Elop was clearly confident with the Microsoft partnership. "Nokia and Microsoft will combine strengths to deliver an ecosystem with unrivalled global reach and scale. It's now a three-horse race."

‘Happy’ was not in Elop’s vocabulary, however, as voiced in the internal memo that was leaked prior to the partnership announcement. He stressed the obvious lack in a product to match the iPhone, and the rivalry from Android who, “came on the scene just over two years ago, and this week they took our leadership position in smartphone volumes."

Now, the lay of the land is clearly different. Nokia is to adopt the Windows Phone 7 as its smartphone platform (no fire in sight), and the Microsoft Bing search engine will be delivered across all services and devices. Microsoft is excited to be working with Nokia – Elop must be over the moon.

Steven Ballmer, Microsoft CEO, is confident, “Ecosystems thrive when fuelled by speed, innovation and scale. The partnership announced today provides incredible scale, vast expertise in hardware and software innovation and a proven ability to execute."

And with plans to deliver an app store to rival Android and Apple app markets, if the plan works, Nokia could be back in the game.