On Friday, Nokia annouced a deal with Microsoft over the operating system (OS) that the Finnish handset manufacturer will use in its future smartphones: Windows Phone 7.
Nokia's decision effectively puts the development of its own "MeeGo" OS - which it hoped would challenge Google's Android system and Apple's iOS - on hold, despite the best efforts of CEO Stephen Elop to say otherwise (as TechCrunch reported yesterday).
Most analysts agree that, while MeeGo was a 'no-no', a marriage with Microsoft is also a risk for the European mobiles-maker: yesterday's "Sunday Times" reported that Nokia shares "tumbled 14%" at the news of the deal.
If anything is clear, it's this. Nokia has taken too long to come to a decision on its future, while Google and Apple have moved with the times more adeptly and kept customers happy more successfully. It remains to be seen whether the deal with Microsoft will halt the inexorable slide of the company that still, currently, has the biggest share of the world market for mobile phones.
