It will be a while before we know for certain, but there's definitely a strong possibility Nokia's partnership with Microsoft will end disastrously. Nokia aren't used to being the underdogs, they were once the most powerful phone manufacturers in the world but they didn't react well to the Android-Apple war and now they've got some serious catching up to do. But it remains to be seen how a little known (at least in the general public) operating system will help them.
Obviously it's not just tech bloggers like me who see doom on the horizon. Inside camp Nokia it seems staff are equally concerned about the Finnish companies business plans, or lack of. Rich Green recently left Nokia for an unspecified time perios due to undisclosed personal reasons which is business slang for 'quit because Nokia have sold their soul to Microsoft and thrown away MeeGo.'
With these 'Green quit' rumours flying around it seems interesting timing (to say the least) for Nokia CEO Stephen Elop to start spewing out Nokia's battle plan. "Plan B is to make sure that Plan A is very successful. The critical ingredients for success are there, consumers are saying the Windows brand operating system is very good. Better in terms of their satisfaction than the competing platforms, but Microsoft hasn't had a partner doing its best work for Windows Phone. That's the commitment Nokia made through this processor. By bringing together our hardware, software and services assets with the strengths that Microsoft brings, we have a formula we believe will drive great success" he said. It seems to me that Elop is sending a message to Green and the sceptics. Famous last words? Add Elops speech and the recent Green news to the growing speculation that Samsung (the new global leaders of the smartphone industry) are in talks with Nokia to buy them out and you’ve got a company on very rocky terrain.