Today, following plenty of rumour, Nokia has announced plans for a partnership with Microsoft that’ll see Windows Phone being used as Nokia’s main smartphone platform.
Symbian will become what the company describes as a “franchise platform”, with plans to almost double the current base of 200 million Symbian owners to around 350 million in the next few years. MeeGo is becoming an open-source mobile operating system project, although Nokia still plans to ship a MeeGo-related product this year.
Stephen Elop, Nokia President and CEO, said “Nokia is at a critical juncture, where significant change is necessary and inevitable in our journey forward. Today, we are accelerating that change through a new path, aimed at regaining our smartphone leadership, reinforcing our mobile device platform and realizing our investments in the future.”
There are changes to the Nokia Leadership Team - previously known as the Group Executive Board - with Dr Alberto Torres stepping down. He was Nokia's executive vice president for MeeGo Computers. A new company structure from 1st April will split the company into two units: Smart Devices (led by Jo Harlow, including the Symbian and MeeGo units) and Mobile Phones (the mass-market phone unit led by Mary McDowell). Design will be led by Marko Ahtisaari.
NAVTEQ will continue as a separate reporting entity, as will Nokia Siemens Networks.