Windows Phone Thoughts: Microsoft-Nokia Finalize Agreement

"Many of you may have already seen the news announced earlier this morning, Nokia and Microsoft signed the definitive agreement for a strategic partnership between the two companies."

Yesterday Microsoft and Nokia finally completed ten weeks of negotiations, culminating in the signing of a definitive agreement for their strategic partnership. Their goal: to build a unique, global, ecosystem for mobile devices and software that is differentiated from all others. The joint team members are already working toward a multi-year product roadmap and are on-schedule to deliver volume shipments in 2012, although the companies report that delivery in 2011 has not been ruled out. In their joint blog post they specifically reach out to developers, who are, of course, essential for any potential success the ecosystem will garner. They also make specific mention of consumer experiences in the app categories of mapping, search, gaming, social media, advertising and productivity, and emphasize their increased focus on mobile business and productivity scenarios that build on Microsoft's cloud services, new features for Symbian, and new capabilities for Windows Phone devices. The two companies mention that reaching this agreement occurred ahead of schedule. Hopefully that is a sign of things to come, because time is of the essence and other ecosystems are growing quickly.