On Nokia + Microsoft partnership
- People don’t buy Nokia phones to get Symbian; they buy them because they are made by Nokia. Nokia has loyal customers. Far more than Apple has.
- People don’t buy iPhones because they are better; they buy them because they are cool gadgets and make a status statement; (plus they run all the cool stuff).
- People don’t buy Android phones because they are better either; they buy them because they just don’t like Apple more than they hate following the crowd.
- People don’t buy Windows Phones because they are made by Microsoft; they buy them because they know exactly what they want.
So there you have it: Nothing will change for the vast majority Nokia’s customers. They will keep buying their Nokia phones.
Nokia on the other hand, won’t throw it’s brand and future into the realm of the Android platform (which is designed to cannibalize the market in the first place). They won’t become a “me too”, “look mom, see what I can do” type of Google/Android experimentalists.
Instead they will build phones that run the best (by far) platform for developers, enabling them to tap into the real money: selling 3rd party apps that run on their devices. That’s where the real money is: in selling soft goods (via the app store, marketplace, you name it). Symbian simply failed to get them into that market segment.
From Microsoft’s perspective the deal is also a no-brainer. They need to cover lost ground fast and gain back market share. That’s the only way to attract developers’ attention again and enrich WP7’s marketplace. With a wealth of apps in the marketplace, there is no reason for anyone to prefer an iPhone or Android phone over a Windows Phone (it will only be a matter of personal taste and not a matter of application availability).
So having to choose between Google/Android and Microsoft/WP7 I think that the clear choice for a big company like Nokia (which is here to stay and looks at the long term) is probably MS/WP7. Nokia is not a startup. They are not looking for cheap entry. They are looking ahead. Comparing the Android platform to Microsoft’s platform from a developer’s perspective is beyond reason. Building apps for Android is (and will keep being) a nightmare. You don’t need to be a rocket scientist to understand that the cost of building the same app for Windows Phone is much lower than the cost for building for Android. As soon as Microsoft’s platform recovers in market share it will be the first platform of choice for any company that makes mobile apps.
So Nokia helps Microsoft in recovering its market share and Microsoft helps Nokia in offering the best phones in the market (again). It’s a clear win/win.
