http://www.engadget.com/2011/02/04/nokia-microsoft-announcing-partnership-next-week-possibly-invo/

Nokia, Microsoft announcing partnership next week, possibly involving Windows Phone 7?

By Chris Ziegler posted Feb 4th 2011 12:09PM

As Nokia comes up on Capital Markets Day next Friday -- an event where the company has historically unveiled interesting things and launched important initiatives -- rumors are once again swirling that they're going to be announcing a major platform shift by way of a competitor. Both Android and Windows Mobile have come up in the past on multiple occasions, owing in no small part to the fact that Nokia's had an outward appearance of spinning its platform wheels on the backs of Symbian and Maemo for far, far too long, but so far, nothing's materialized. This time around, it's said that Microsoft will be the partner announced on the 11th -- and though Nokia's uptake of Windows Phone 7 would be the obvious strategic shift, it's important to note that these companies have actually partnered before with pretty trivial consequences for the market; it's entirely possible they could be ramping up to do that again, sharing apps and services between Windows Phone 7 and Symbian / MeeGo. We doubt it, but it's within the realm of reason.

But turning our attention back to the major platform shift, there are a couple factors that add a little more credibility to the rumor this time. First off, the elephant in the room: recently-appointed CEO Stephen Elop comes from Microsoft on good terms and has clearly been given marching orders to take Nokia in a new, more profitable direction; the Symbian Foundation's gutting happened on Elop's watch, for example, and he just hinted a few days ago that joining an existing ecosystem could make sense. More importantly, though, we've got a trusted source of our own who's now saying that the tide has turned and this appears to be happening at Capital Markets Day -- and that one of Nokia's existing platforms will be dropped as a direct result. It's hard to pick which one that'd be: Symbian, though terribly out-of-date, is still wildly popular in Europe and emerging markets, while MeeGo is technically promising but has yet to make any impact in the market whatsoever. On the flipside, noted Microsoft pundit Mary Jo Foley doesn't put a lot of stock in this latest round of rumors.

So, here's the question: can Nokia become another Samsung, LG, or HTC, betting its hopes and dreams on its chops as a hardware manufacturer alone? Historically, Nokia has been defined as much (if not more) by its platforms than by its hardware, which lacks Samsung's capability for end-to-end in-house sourcing. Regardless of what happens next Friday, this should all make for a very interesting MWC indeed.

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While this is probably WP7 related, I am really hoping it is going to be a slew of Nokia designed Windows based Ipad killers. Engadget forums are melting down with this announcement so the reaction is storng.

Hopefully it's true, cooperation between the two is these two companies' only (little) chance of success in the mobile market.

this could bring back both Nokia and MS in the mobile space big time

Or they can drown each other.

^^^^^
We managed 2 comments before someone said something negative...its was a pretty good streak for Microsoft standards VGchartz.

hehe

that could happen but with the money that these 2 companies have and the amount they invest in R&D,they could even do wonders.

NOKIA has the best hardware and MS has the best software.

NOKIA and MS both spend close to $4BILLION in R&D last year

True...nokia phones are usually the best spec wise and pretty Buletproof. Their R&D is insane...

Nokia still has a 35% marketshare globaly of smartphone market which makes them number 1.But they have lost 15% in the last 2 years. Whats dragging them down is Symbian OS on their phones which is pretty outdated at this point. If they can get some help in the OS market...wether its Android or WM7, they have a really good chance of maintaing their marketshare lead.

oh comeon,stop it.

even when people try to forget about it,comments like this remind them of it.

nokia still has the marketshare but they really haven't stood out for soemtime and a big share of their sales come from all types of budget phones in developing countries..

they need something new to standout.

they can get help from android and WP7 but that really won't do the job as they will go fom a standout company to being on of the hardware producers like all else android stuff which has the same thing just a different hardware

theyt need something like APPLE,have a new hardware and new OS optimized just for their phones.

Its not negative really, just a possible outcome. Nokia has been in free fall the past few years and while a pair up with MS might change that, it might just make things worse for both companies. If you can't take negative possible outcomes from other users without calling VGC Microsoft biased, then why are even here? I saw the game thing from you in the Bing/google thread.