Nokisoft or Microkia?

Being a former Nokia fan I was really excited to see what they were gonna announce today. I believe we already know that Nokia would be adopting Windows Phone as their main platform but we wanted to get into the details. So, who is the biggest winner? Without a doubt Nokia is the biggest winner of this alliance. They were already dead in the market. They were still ahead in terms of market share and shipped devices but in terms of innovation they were pretty much dead. They needed to make a tough choice and they did it. I think it was something like, let's try to get together with Google, with Microsoft, even with HP for WebOS; it was something like, we are desperate and need someone to get us back on track asap. And among all those options Microsoft was the best for Nokia.

But, was it really the best? Well, let go back a little while and see Elop's background. Where does he come from? Yep, you are right! Microsoft. So he already knows how Microsoft works. He know what Microsoft would be willing to give and what would not. Nokia needs to be recognized in the US and Microsoft needs to get stronger in Europe with Windows Phone. So there you go. It is a win - win situation. Nokia is still a really important brand in Europe. Remember how Symbian ruled that part of the world while RIM was taking over America?

However, not everything is so bright. What can be wrong? Well, Windows Phone is still a fairly new platform. It has still to find a way to explode its full potential. So far, it still has to mature as a mobile OS. Nokia and Microsoft will need to work hard if they want to position Windows Phone as a leader mobile platform. Maybe with Android, Nokia would not have needed that too much work. Nokia alleges that Android would not let them differentiate enough from other vendors. I am still thinking how Android can limit one brand on customization and seriously I have no clue. Even if Nokia did not go with Android at this moment, I still have hope that they will join forces at some time. Eldar Murtazin has already tweeted about it. And since we are discussing customization let's remember that Microsoft did not let HTC put their so famous Sense UI on Windows Phone devices. It was Microsoft who said that they wanted to keep a uniform experience across all the devices running their OS. For that reason is that it seems odd that according to Ballmer and Elop, Nokia will be allowed to customize their devices in a deeper way than the other brands. What would HTC and Samsung think about this? I can tell you that they will push Microsoft to get the same privileges. And then, we will have something that was not Microsoft's original plan. I would not blame them, you need to evolve and be prepared to give away something to keep growing.

The one thing I am still curious is to see how Bing maps will integrate/work with Ovi Maps. I believe Ovi Maps is one of the best mapping softwares you can ever find. There was a time when Ovi Maps was years ahead of Google Maps and I would not like to see it just disappear. Another thing that will be integrated is Ovi Store. According to today's conference, it will become part of Microsoft Marketplace. Those are good news as Ovi Store never caused an impact.

I really hope both Microsoft and Nokia can build something great together. Both are struggling to get a place in the Mobile OS wars. Unfortunately, there is one thing both Windows Phone and Nokia share. They do not keep their promises. How long have you, Windows Phone users, been waiting for the copy/paste update? And I can easily think of 5 Nokia devices that suffered delay after delay. Anyway, I hope they can both learn from their mistakes (Kin Kin cough cough) and build devices that make me become a Nokia fan once again. I do believe Nokia makes the best hardware out there. And with Nokia, Microsoft may get that needed thrust to position Windows Phone as one of the leaders. As for who is not happy with this alliance? Samsung and Google come to my mind right away. I am sure Samsung will become the biggest cell phone vendor but Nokia will give them a good fight with this new weapon under their arm. And Google? Google will get together with Nokia at some point, I hope.