14 DAY TRIAL // During the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, Finnish mobile phone maker Nokia unveiled a few more details on the newly announced partnership with Redmond-based software giant Microsoft, and also confirmed that the recently leaked Nokia Windows Phone concept device
was real.
Specific info on the device itself has not emerged until now, nor on the exact arrival of the mobile phone on the market, though Nokia says that they aim at having the device ready for purchase before the end of the ongoing year.
Nokia Smart Devices lead Jo Harlow was the one to confirm these details on the said Nokia Windows Phone prototype smartphone.
She showed the device a few times at the press-conference Nokia held at MWC, and hinted at the possible launch of this new smartphone during the ongoing year, something that Nokia's CEO Stephen Elop also unveiled at the Nokia-Microsoft event on Friday.
Many accused Elop as being on Microsoft's pay role, but he denied such allegations, stating that the entire management team was involved in taking the decision to move towards the Windows Phone operating system.
According to him, the fact that Nokia employees would protest against the move was somehow expected, especially since Symbian engineers would be affected by layoffs.
Stephen Elop reiterated Nokia's commitment to drive the evolution of Windows Phone forward, which would involve leaving aside current development environments, including Qt.
The deal between Nokia and Microsoft would be a unique one, and Nokia would have a special relation with the Windows Phone platform. Even so, the deal won't make Nokia the exclusive provider of Windows Phone devices.
However, Nokia did not announce new details on its future roadmap, at least nothing new when compared to what was announced on Friday.
For the time being, the company would have in plan the release of handsets running under three platforms, including MeeGo, Symbian and Windows Phone, but it would eventually phase out Symbian, while scrapping MeeGo plans, and is expected to release only Windows Phone devices.
Note: Fellow editors Cosmin Vasile and Alex Vochin are on the floor at the 2011 Mobile World Congress and are keeping us posted with pictures and live reports on the latest product previews and launches.
