Nokia gets into bed with Microsoft

[Simon]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-12427680

I can't help but see this as an unhealthy alliance for Nokia.  The new Windows system still has a way to go, and presumably, this means Nokia will not develop Symbian any further.  Not good news for existing users. 

[Rik]

It seems that Nokia are, effectively, admitting defeat.

[Simon]

Seems like desperate straw clutching to me. 

[Rik]

It does, and it could be that users will react strongly, leaving Nokia stranded.

[Simon]

It's a shame that two of the once great manufacturers, Nokia and SE, haven't been able to keep up in the last few years.  Neither have released a competitive handset for some time. 

[Rik]

I think they were so well established when the iPhone launched that they probably regarded it as a gimmick and themselves as invulnerable. By the time they woke up, they had too much ground to make up.

[Tacitus]

I can't help but see this as an unhealthy alliance for Nokia.  .......

I think it means Nokia are Finnished.......

[Simon]

That's probably about right.  SE, of course, seemed to be concentrating on making a camera, oh, and we guess we'd better stick a phone on it.  Nokia, I suspect, got complacent. 

[Rik]

I think it means Nokia are Finnished.......

[Rik]

Nokia, I suspect, got complacent. 

I'm sure of it. The probably regarded the iPhone as a gimmick.

[Simon]

At the time, they were probably right, and it was also unaffordable to many.  Unfortunately, they took their eye off the ball, and allowed things to slip. 

[Rik]

They are not alone, of course, in believing that they were invulnerable. Many a household name disappeared due to complacency.

[Simon]

True. 

[Lance]

One of the problems Nokia has was sticking with an old version of Symbian for so long. I think that a well built Nokia phone running windows, android or WebOS could well bring them back into the game.

[Rik]

It will be interesting to see how it pans out. I would like Nokia to regain their position in the market, I've always liked their phones.

[pctech]

Not really suprising as Elop is ex-Microsoft.

I better look at alternatives to my 6700 though because if they can the map updates there will be no point in having one.

[Lance]

iPhone with sat nav software? I run tomtom on mine and it works well!

[pctech]

I have an iPhone aversion.

I may just get a Blackberry.

[Simon]

I'll be interested to see what BlackBerry bring out next.

[Rik]

Jam? 

[pctech]

I'd like to get a flip phone with nav (if such a thing exists) as I don't really like chunky phones.

[Technical Ben]

It's a shame that two of the once great manufacturers, Nokia and SE, haven't been able to keep up in the last few years.  Neither have released a competitive handset for some time.  

Yep. My first phone was a Nokia. Could not fault it. I've had 3 Sony Erricsons (well, first was just Erricson IIRC), all faultless. A 3210, T68i, S700i, K800 (Best phone ever) IMO. Then I got a LG Viewty as it had a 5mp camera, only one on the market at the time so did not get a SE. Was quite good. Now I got a horrid LG Cookie. Only stayed LG as they kept a good quality build, with reasonable prices. The latest SE models look wonderful, but SO expensive, and no Android on the models I wanted. Not seen a nokia phone I want for something like a decade now.  

Oh, and on the comment of the OS... Nokia seem to have not moved forward. Even taking up an Android phone would have helped. But they stuck with a blocky and slow simbian build.
I heard their biggest problem, was dividing up the company into 3 models/offices/sections. They all fought, and did not work together. That meant, the great camera in one model, was not available in the other. Where as, Apple, are the complete opposite. 1 model, 1 design (or a little more memory). So it gets the best of everything. Instead of only one thing, and being rubbish at the rest. If Nokias departments worked together, they could make some amazing phones.

[pctech]

First phone was an Ericsson S868 and it was rock solid.

Second best was the SE K800.

[Lance]

My first phone was a Phillips savvy. I then progressed to a 3310i, 7250i (I think), N80, N95 8gb, iPhone 3GS and now the iPhone 4. Actually, I might have missed something out but can't think what!

[pctech]

Had a 3310 myself too for about a year, not a bad little phone actually, very solidly built.

[pctech]

To date I've had

On One2One
Ericsson S868 (best phone ever but a brick by today's standards)
Sagem MW936 (worst phone ever, kept losing signal even in an open outdoor space in Covent Garden, learned later from colleague that used to work for One2One that it had duff software to begin with, had to keep rebooting it)
On Virgin
Nokia 3310 (Good little phone)
Nokia 3510i (not bad but ring was so muffled couldn't hear it in a noisy place)
Samsung A800 (returned after one week as kept losing signal)
Motorola C350 (sold as the buttons hurt my thumbs when texting or dialling)
Motorola V600 (nice phone but dire software, kept deciding to stop receiving SMS even though inbox was empty, had to do master reset)
Nokia 6230i (very good phone but wanted to switch networks from Virgin to O2 but thanks to Virgin cock up by giving me the wrong code it ended up locked to them)

On O2
SE W300i (nice little flip phone but had some software issues)
SE K800i (on a par with the S868)
Nokia 6700 Silver (good phone but sold as wanted to dabble with touch screens)
Nokia 5800 (way too chunky for my liking)
Nokia 6700 Black (current, good phone)

[Simon]

My first phone was also a Philips, but I think it was a C something or other.  I then had an NEC flipper, then a Sony J70, Nokia 6310i, SE K700i, SE K750i, SE K800i, Nokia N82, BlackBerry Storm, BlackBerry Storm 2, HTC HD2, and currently, iPhone 3GS. 

[Simon]

Nokia's CEO said its recent alliance with Microsoft will be worth billions to the ailing mobile phone maker.

Nokia announced last week that it was teaming up with Microsoft to take on Google and Apple in the smartphone market by using Windows Phone 7 on its handsets.

"Microsoft is contributing to Nokia substantial monetary value," Stephen Elop said in a presentation ahead of the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

"Some people interpret that to be in the millions or tens of millions," said Elop, who left Microsoft to take the helm of Nokia in September.

Read more: http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/365230/microsoft-deal-worth-billions-to-nokia

[Rik]

I wonder why Nokia hasn't asked the question "where does that leave us?"

[Simon]

With billions?

[Rik]

Wait till MS ask for their pound of flesh.

[Technical Ben]

Wait till MS ask for their pound of flesh.

Will they care while cruising along on their personal yacht? 

[Rik]

Possibly not, Ben.

[pctech]

You never know, their Windows powered phone might be so good it'll Nokia socks off 

[Simon]

[Rik]

Seconded.

[pctech]