[kyberneticka]

With Android, as others have pointed out, Nokia would have faced immense competition from HTC, Samsung, and others who are established in the marketplace. With WP7, they at least have an opportunity to come in at the ground floor.

Also, given the relationship between Elop and MS, there can be some shared resources to make Nokia the flagship for WP7. With Android, they would have been just another manufacturer.

[ldng]

I would answer that implementing this strategy can't be a short term plan. This will take time to put in place meanwhile a lot of executives can change. Is it wise to rely on a relationship between one executive and another company as a long term strategy ?

[kyberneticka]

I didn't say it was wise. I just believe that it is the reality of the situation. We have watched Nokia throw their immense resources in every direction, from Symbian to Maemo to Meego, all resulting in failure. The pathways for Nokia to take were pretty narrow, and I think spending more time in developing yet ANOTHER platform would have been death. Nokia cut their losses here, and went with a platform they could work with. They can focus their efforts on developing killer hardware and optimizing WP7 for it. It takes the biggest weakness of Nokia (interface design and software) out of their hands. It also makes the platform more attractive for developers - with Nokia backing WP7, there's guaranteed distribution and handset sales.