Nokia και Microsoft έδωσαν τα χέρια επίσημα! Ετοιμαστείτε για Nokia Windows Phone 7 smartphones!

Είναι πλέον γεγονός! Οι φήμες είχαν κυκλοφορήσει πριν μερικούς μήνες, αλλά τις τελευταίες ημέρες είχαν φουντώσει ξανά και πλέον είναι πραγματικότητα. Microsoft και Nokia δίνουν τα χέρια και ετοιμάζονται για μια μεγάλη στρατηγική συνεργασία, που θα φέρει το λειτουργικό σύστημα Windows Phone 7 στις συσκευές της δεύτερης!

Ακόμη, η μηχανή αναζήτησης Bing και το σύστημα διαφήμισης adCenter θα παρέχουν τις αντίστοιχες υπηρεσίες στις συσκευές Nokia, ενώ η Nokia θα ασχοληθεί με την εξέλιξη του λειτουργικού συστήματος για να παρέχει και αυτή της γνώσεις της.

Η εφαρμογή Nokia Maps θα ενσωματωθεί στις υπηρεσίες χαρτογράφησης της Microsoft και στη μηχανή αναζήτησης Bing, ενώ και το κατάστημα εφαρμογών της Nokia θα ενσωματωθεί στο Microsoft Marketplace!

Για τους φίλους του λειτουργικού συστήματος MeeGo, αξίζει να αναφέρουμε ότι θα μετατραπεί σε ένα open-source project, όπου ο καθένας θα μπορεί να το αναπτύξει ανάλογα με τις ανάγκες τους, ενώ η Nokia σχεδιάζει να κυκλοφορήσει μία συσκευή MeeGo αργότερα μέσα στο 2011.

Φυσικά, θα συνεχιστεί η υποστήριξη και στο λειτουργικό σύστημα Symbian, με σκοπό να διατηρηθεί η παγκόσμια βάση των 200 εκατομμυρίων κατόχων συσκευών Symbian. Εξάλλου, η Nokia υπολογίζει σε πωλήσεις της τάξης των 150 εκατομμυρίων συσκευών Symbian για τα επόμενα χρόνια και δεν υπάρχει λόγος να παραιτηθεί από μια τέτοια αγορά.

Ακολουθεί η επίσημη ανακοίνωση:

Today in London, our two companies announced plans for a broad strategic partnership that combines the respective strengths of our companies and builds a new global mobile ecosystem. The partnership increases our scale, which will result in significant benefits for consumers, developers, mobile operators and businesses around the world. We both are incredibly excited about the journey we are on together.

While the specific details of the deal are being worked out, here’s a quick summary of what we are working towards:

• Nokia will adopt Windows Phone as its primary smartphone strategy, innovating on top of the platform in areas such as imaging, where Nokia is a market leader.

• Nokia will help drive and define the future of Windows Phone. Nokia will contribute its expertise on hardware design, language support, and help bring Windows Phone to a larger range of price points, market segments and geographies.

• Nokia and Microsoft will closely collaborate on development, joint marketing initiatives and a shared development roadmap to align on the future evolution of mobile products.

• Bing will power Nokia’s search services across Nokia devices and services, giving customers access to Bing’s next generation search capabilities. Microsoft adCenter will provide search advertising services on Nokia’s line of devices and services.

• Nokia Maps will be a core part of Microsoft’s mapping services. For example, Maps would be integrated with Microsoft’s Bing search engine and adCenter advertising platform to form a unique local search and advertising experience.

• Nokia’s extensive operator billing agreements will make it easier for consumers to purchase Nokia Windows Phone services in countries where credit-card use is low.

• Microsoft development tools will be used to create applications to run on Nokia Windows Phones, allowing developers to easily leverage the ecosystem’s global reach.

• Microsoft will continue to invest in the development of Windows Phone and cloud services so customers can do more with their phone, across their work and personal lives.

• Nokia’s content and application store will be integrated with Microsoft Marketplace for a more compelling consumer experience.

We each bring incredible assets to the table. Nokia’s history of innovation in the hardware space, global hardware scale, strong history of intellectual property creation and navigation assets are second to none. Microsoft is a leader in software and services; the company’s incredible expertise in platform creation forms the opportunity for its billions of customers and millions of partners to get more out of their devices.

Together, we have some of the world’s most admired brands, including Windows, Office, Bing, Xbox Live, NAVTEQ and Nokia. We also have a shared understanding of what it takes to build and sustain a mobile ecosystem, which includes the entire experience from the device to the software to the applications, services and the marketplace.

Today, the battle is moving from one of mobile devices to one of mobile ecosystems, and our strengths here are complementary. Ecosystems thrive when they reach scale, when they are fueled by energy and innovation and when they provide benefits and value to each person or company who participates. This is what we are creating; this is our vision; this is the work we are driving from this day forward.

There are other mobile ecosystems. We will disrupt them.

There will be challenges. We will overcome them.

Success requires speed. We will be swift.

Together, we see the opportunity, and we have the will, the resources and the drive to succeed.