Thursday, April 21, 2011

Nokia and Microsoft deal finalized, ahead of schedule


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And that's that.

Today, Nokia and Microsoft sealed the deal of the decade (in our eyes, at least) finalizing Nokia's commitment to the Windows Phone platform. Not bad for two months.

The good news is that not only was the deal finalized ahead of schedule, but work by Nokia in cranking out their first Windows Phones is progressing rapidly--however, Microsoft is still projecting "volume device shipments in 2012" but they also note in another blog post "the pressure is on for first delivery in 2011",

Nokia and Microsoft also announced significant progress on the development of the first Nokia products incorporating Windows Phone. With hundreds of personnel already engaged on joint engineering efforts, the companies are collaborating on a portfolio of new Nokia devices. Nokia has also started porting key applications and services to operate on Windows Phone and joint outreach has begun to third party application developers.

Some other highlights from the announcement are not really knew, but at least offer some clarification:

Nokia will leverage mapping, navigation, language support and work on cameras; Microsoft gives Nokia Bing, gaming, ecosystem
Windows Phone developer registration free for all Nokia developers.
Nokia will open a new app store for all their software, including Windows Phone, giving their devs easy access to all of Nokia's customers
Nokia will also leverage their operator billing, expanding Microsoft's reach
There is also the bit about Microsoft receiving royalty payments from Nokia starting with their first phones shipped and Nokia receiving payments from Microsoft "measured in the billions of dollars" i.e. things we've heard earlier. While a delay or roadblock was not really expected between the two giants, it's great to see the partnership finally cemented.

Now lets see some phones already. Entire Press Release after the break

Source: wpcentral.com

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