Nokia is shifting towards Windows Phone 7 big time, but it does not mean that it is going to leave its in-house operating platform
Symbian out in the woods. Nokia big boss Stephen Elop is doing his best to re-assure his Symbian partners that Nokia is still invested in Symbian. He also provided a time frame stating that Symbian will keep getting updated "at least" until 2016. Well, that's a long time for developers and other partners to carve out alternative niche.
The announcement also underscores Symbian's importance. The platform may sound archaic in comparison to shining stars like iOS and Android, but it is a fact that Nokia is still among the biggest handset makers in the world and most of its phones run on Symbian. In emerging markets such as India and Africa, Nokia still rules the roost. Some time back, Nokia had stated that it plans to sell 150 million more Symbian based phones, we hope Asian and African markets would be kind enough to let Nokia reach its goal.
Under Stephen Elop's leadership, Nokia is concentrating on developing markets. It recently announced erecting four R&D centers in China, though, these centers will work on developing Windows Phone 7 handsets. However, Nokia will also be establishing a global R&D hub for Symbian S30 and S40 platforms. Nokia has already outsourced most of the Symbian development work to Accenture and slashed 4,000 jobs in the process.
Nokia recently stated that it would be rebranding its Ovi store and everything related. The Finnish company is planning to put all its products and services under 'Nokia' brand umbrella. It is also planning to launch a couple of Windows Phone 7 handsets by the end of this year. In the meantime, Symbian will be put on life support machine but just be glad that the machine will remain on until 2016.