Nokia and Microsoft wants to compete with Apple and Google

[appel]

Well, this seems like the general trend. Cellphone manufacturers no longer make the OS, but rather get the OS from another company, after all these modern phones are almost like PC’s so why wouldn’t it evolve like the PC market? You don’t see HP making their own OS, or Microsoft making their own computers. Soon you will be able to decide what OS you want on your phone when you buy it. This is true even today, as many manufacturers offer phones with different OS’s.

Apple is unique in this aspect, and will probably continue to be so.

But I think Nokia is just following the trend. It’s a correct decision for them to make, considering the situation they are in. But they shouldn’t have locked themselves in with just one OS vendor, however, they probably got a sweet deal on Windows Phone 7 OS. In the short term it might save them, but in the long run it might hinder them.

[Demonpants]

Remember that the mobile market is not a single market - it’s several. Apple has the gadget whore techophile gadget cornered with their beautiful and well-behaving devices, but their high price point will keep them there. Android is going for a wider audience, but I think there is still room for Windows devices to be marketed as the cheapest devices. Right now it’s very expensive to get any smart phone - if they could pull it down to be closer to the price range of what non-smartphones are currently going for then they might be able to carve out part of the market.

[Nate]

@appel

The problem with Microsoft is that they’re trying to stick their Windows OS where it’s not appropriate.

Show us on the doll where they tried to stick it… :o

[gouessej]

@Roquen

Well, that’s not a lot of information, but I’d be willing to bet this is a faulty driver (perhaps in conjunction with multiple USB and/or plug-and-play devices creating a conflict). And issues like this are not really related to the kernel of a given OS.

I’m sceptical as these keys were working even with XP. If you’re right, they introduced a regression in their drivers for Vista and 7.

[Roquen]

Not at all. Try re-reading my post.

[kaffiene]

@Mads

They say they will split up the work so Microsoft will make the software, and Nokia will make the hardware (what else? :P).

I only see two “small” issues with their plan. Firstly, Microsoft doesn’t make very good software, compared to other companies. Secondly, Nokia doesn’t make very good hardware compared to other companies in this field.

I disagree with you. I personally loathe M$, but by all accounts, their new mobile OS (can’t remember what they’re calling it - W7?) is really good. I’ve read a few reviews and they were all positive. Nokia have a tonne of experience producing hardware. They ship more if it than anyone else and most of it is pretty solid. Their challenge is that they have targeted the low end of the market. They need to move up the complexity scale and that will be a challenge.

I think they will probably fail but that’s because I think that iPhone and Android will be hard to compete with - they already have a large part of the market and represent two different segments of the market. That makes it hard for a newcomer to compete - they have to be significantly better in some way or find a niche that the two incumbents do not currently cover.

While I would like to deride M$ products, it appears the facts (rather than what our prejudices would like us to believe) are that they’ve done a reasonable job in this area. Still think they’ll fail thou - for marketing, not technical reasons.