Nokia move signals end for Symbian

As Windows Phone 7 becomes Nokia's smartphone platform, Symbian nears the end of the road

Nokia's new partnership with Microsoft on smartphones effectively signals the end of the road for the Symbian platform, while Nokia itself has now ceded control of the software used on its high-end devices to Microsoft.

At a briefing in London, Nokia confirmed earlier rumours that it is adopting Windows Phone 7 as its high-end smartphone platform, extending the partnership between the two firms announced in 2009.

Nokia chief executive Stephen Elop said that Nokia was facing "challenging and dynamic times", as the smartphone market morphed from "a war of devices into a battle of rival ecosystems".

The strategic alliance with Microsoft is still subject to a definitive agreement, Elop said, but he talked of long-term plans for the two firms to create a mobile ecosystem beyond anything that currently exists.

Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer said that the move was "good for Microsoft and good for Nokia", and that the smartphone market is now a " three-horse race" between Windows Phone 7, Android and Apple.

However, both declined to indicate any timeframe for the first Windows Phone Nokia handset to come to market, with Elop saying only that "we believe we can move faster with this than we have ever done before".

The move raises huge doubts over the future of Nokia's Symbian platform, which is now being relegated to lower-cost handsets, with Elop driving home several times that "Windows Phone 7 will be our primary smartphone platform going forward".

Although Symbian handsets still sell by the millions each quarter, it seems almost inevitable that the platform will be phased out completely if Windows Phone 7 proves successful for Nokia, especially as the firm intends to continue with its Series 40 platform for mid-tier handsets.

"It certainly sounds like they are winding Symbian down," said Ovum principal analyst Tony Cripps.

It also casts a shadow over Nokia's other operating system, Meego, which was previously said to be its preferred platform for high-end devices.

Elop said that a Meego device will come to market this year, but will be "an opportunity to learn from the experience". He declined to say whether Meego might be used for a Nokia tablet, commenting that "we reserve the right to keep our options open".

The move could also worry enterprise users of Nokia handsets, as Elop said that Microsoft's platform will be used even on future business handsets.

Nokia move signals end for Symbian

As Windows Phone 7 becomes Nokia's smartphone platform, Symbian nears the end of the road

"Windows Phone 7 has the best implementation of business software on the planet," Elop claimed, referring to features such as its mobile Office applications.

But customers rolling out future Nokia phones are unlikely to be happy if these come with Microsoft's Zune music service and Xbox Live gaming service, unless there is some way for administrators to manage these.

Other question marks hang over Nokia's Ovi services, as Windows Phone 7 is tightly integrated with Microsoft's own services such as Windows Live and Zune.

"The two are going to be competing against other in this area, and Microsoft's services are more heavily used than Nokia's at the moment," Cripps said.

Nokia is effectively giving up complete control over its own smartphone strategy, but this is not necessarily a bad thing, according to Cripps.

"Nokia has done itself a favour because it's a handset business at the end of the day, and unless you are a software company the complexity of modern platforms means it is difficult to keep up with rivals," he explained.

Adopting Windows Phone 7 might also help Nokia to gain more traction in the US, Cripps added, one market where the company has only weak sales at present.

Before today's announcement, some industry watchers had speculated that Nokia might adopt Google's Android platform instead, as this is a relatively open platform and gaining considerable momentum in the smartphone market.

Nokia's Qt user interface and application framework also supports Linux already, which should have made it a trivial task to overlay it on top of Android.

However, Elop said that so many vendors are already in the Android ecosystem that "the risk of commoditisation is very high", meaning that Nokia might effectively end up simply competing on cost.

IDC research director John Delaney agreed, saying that there would be no differentiation for Nokia with Android.

"And with Windows Phone 7, they can spin it as an extension of their existing partnership rather than admitting their own platform can't compete with the likes of Apple," he commented.

The partnership is also good news for Microsoft, as some rumours claim that sales of Windows Phone 7 handsets have failed to meet the company's expectations so far.

With Nokia's global reach and existing relationships with mobile operators, the platform may now get a boost.

"It's even possible that Nokia might end up forming a preferential partnership with Microsoft, and become the 'Wintel' of the phone business," said Cripps.