Microsoft and Nokia Announce Broad Strategic Partnership on Windows Phone

Great news!  Nokia and Microsoft today announced plans to form a broad strategic partnership that would use their complementary strengths and expertise to create a new global mobile ecosystem.

Here are some highlights from the announcement:

· 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 the future of Windows Phone by contributing 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 collaborate on a shared product roadmap as well as joint sales & marketing initiatives to drive global volume and create a vibrant Windows Phone ecosystem

· Microsoft development tools and marketplace (including XBOX Live) will be used to create applications and games to run across the global ecosystem including Nokia Windows Phones.

· Bing will power the search services across Nokia devices and services, giving their 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 become a core part of Microsoft’s mapping services.  For example, Maps would be integrated with Bing and AdCenter  to form a unique local search and advertising experience.

You can view some of the detailed announcement here, or watch the webcast.