Nokia Kills Symbian Ahead of Windows Phone 7 Launch

Global handset giant Nokia is pulling Symbian-based phones from the North American market in preparation for the launch of its Windows Phone 7 devices this fall. At the heart of the move is a question: Nokia and Microsoft are two mobile underdogs that will need to bring their respective strengths to bear to achieve their global goals for success. Is it enough to make a mark against the Android army and the Apple-heads?

The move to pull Symbian is no real surprise: Nokia announced last February that it would say farewell to its proprietary Symbian operating system and instead start to build smartphones on Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 OS, with release dates in time for the holiday shopping season. With Nokia losing market share quarter over quarter – in reality, it’s a pale shadow of the No. 1 global handset status it enjoyed just two years ago – the switch-up can come none too soon.

"When we launch Windows Phones we will essentially be out of the Symbian business, the S40 business, etc.," Nokia's U.S. President Chris Weber, told AllThingsD.

Nokia has never been ascendant in the U.S. market, but it hopes to change that by embracing Microsoft’s homegrown OS. To boot, around the world, Android and Apple iPhone have been steadily eating away at its market share as the Symbian OS has proven to be unable to keep up with cutting edge smartphone functionality.

When Nokia announced that Microsoft would be its new mobile OS partner, many were shocked, having expected the Finnish handset maker to strike a deal with Android instead. But Nokia and Microsoft in many ways need each other.

Nokia still commands a big incumbent position in many markets and has the manufacturing clout to help Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 gain the global distribution and critical mass it needs to achieve a significant position in the mobile OS landscape. To date, Microsoft has languished in the wireless game, and in the consumer market especially, and has hoped its revamped mobile OS will change all of that. But it needs reach.

Meanwhile, according to AllThingsD, Nokia will pursue a carrier distribution model rather than the unlocked tactic it has been known for in the past. That strategy puts it in line with the typical way that consumers in the U.S. and Canada are used to buying their mobile phones. Microsoft helps here: It brings to the table crucial relationships with carriers like AT&T, which Nokia lacks.

In short, in Nokia and in Microsoft we have two mobile underdogs that will need to bring their respective strengths to bear to achieve their global goals for success. Only time will tell if the gambit is successful.

Nokia will only sell Windows Phones in North America, nothing else

Finnish mobile phone leader Nokia will be dealing exclusively in Windows Phones in the United States, according to several reports on Tuesday. The company's devices that run other mobile operating systems: S40, Symbian, and Meego, will not be sold in the North American market at all.

In an exclusive interview with AllThingsD's Ina Fried, Nokia Inc. President Chris Weber said the company will be putting all its strength into Windows Phone in North America, and that the continent is essentially "out of the Symbian…S40 business."

Similarly, Nokia's Swedish language website posted the launch dates of the N9, Nokia's first smartphone running the Linux-based mobile operating system MeeGo late last week, and there was no mention of the United States in the global launch plans.

Bloggers from Knowyourcell contacted Nokia to ask about the announcement, and the company said "The product is now being rolled out in countries around the world. At this time, we will not be making it available in the US."

Presently, this doesn't appear to be the result of an exclusivity deal with Microsoft, but rather a focusing of efforts, since Nokia has all but completely failed to make headway in the North American smartphone market with any of its other operating systems.

Nokia X7 Smartphone

Three Mobile is the first mobile phone operator in the UK to launch the Nokia X7 smartphone, the second handset to come with the Symbian Anna OS, and as expected, the phone is not exactly cheap.

For £35 per month, the same as the Samsung Galaxy S2, users can enroll on The One Plan tariff with 2000 minutes, 5000 texts, 5000 3-to-3 minutes and all you can eat data on a two year contract.

Users can also choose to get the X7 on Pay as you go for £380 compared to £500 for the Samsung Galaxy S2 and £360 for the HTC Desire S. The handset comes with a 4-inch OLED display with a 640x360 pixel resolution (and Gorilla glass), 256MB RAM, 1GB ROM (and an 8GB microSD card).

Other features include Wi-Fi, microUSB, USB on-the-go support, a rear eight megapixel camera with dual LED and HD video recording option, a Broadcom BCM7227 ARM11 SoC clocked at 680MHz, AGPS, a 1200mAh Li-Ion battery and free Navigation with voice guidance.

Although the X7 is stunning, it is simply too expensive for it to be a roaring success given its entry level hardware; the Apple iPhone 4 for example, costs only an additional £69 upfront while the Nokia N8, the Xperia Play and the Xperia Arc can be had for the same monthly outlay.