By Mary Jo Foley | April 21, 2011, 7:32am PDT
On April 21, Microsoft and Nokia signed off on the collaboration agreement the pair announced in mid-February.
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The emphasis on speed runs somewhat contrary to the statements in Nokia’s 20-F, which it filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission in mid-March. In that document, Nokia officials said the transition to Windows Phone as its “primary smartphone platform” will take “about two years” and that 2011 and 2012 would be transition years.
Nokia will contribute its mapping, navigation and certain location-based services to the entire Windows Phone ecosystem. Nokia also will be contributing its expertise in imaging, hardware design and language support to help drive Windows Phone. Microsoft will provide Bing search on the Nokia devices, as well as various productivity, advertising, gaming, social media and other services across Nokia’s devices. (There’s no mention of Bing Maps in today’s press release. Microsoft officials told me recently that Microsoft and Nokia planned to combine their mapping platforms on Windows Phone. I’ve asked again as to how/whether Bing Maps will figure on Windows Phones, going forward.)
Update (4/22): Here’s what Microsoft is saying regarding the future of Bing Maps, courtesy of a company spokesperson: “Bing Maps has utilized Nokia content for road data, geo-coding and routing services for several years, through Nokia’s Navteq vector data business, relying on the quality of its data for core location services. The Nokia/MS partnership will enable deeper collaboration in the future.”
Taken from <http://www.zdnet.com/blog/microsoft/microsoft-and-nokia-finalize-their-windows-phone-collaboration-agreement/9255?tag=mantle_skin;content>