According to multiple sources, Nokia is very close to announcing a partnership with Microsoft that will have Windows Phone 7 added to Nokia smartphones.
Nokia CEO Stephen Elop apparently had talks with Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer and Google’s former CEO Eric Schmidt but chose WP7 over Android.
Additionally, Nokia has already pulled funds and time from MeeGo (its Symbian successor), likely leaving it to Intel.
Elop, hired in September to turn the company around, will unveil the strategy tomorrow at an event in London.
Nokia has a tiny presence in the United States, and is quickly losing its lead in the smartphone market to Android and Apple.
Result for: ceo steve ballmer
Microsoft has confirmed that it is purchasing Canesta, a small 3D chip making company that specializes in gesture-recognition tech.
Canesta is best known for chips that, when coupled with digital cameras, give many devices a 3D effect, and a sense of depth perception (as pictured).
The Redmond giant did not disclose how much it paid for the chip maker.
Notably, the 3D tech used in the newly-launched Kinect motion control system was created by Canesta’s rival PrimeSense.
“I’m excited to be way out in front and want to push the pedal on that,” added CEO Steve Ballmer, when he was asked about company plans to advance gesture technology outside of just Kinect.
Analysts speculate Microsoft will use the Canesta tech to begin equipping PCs, HDTVs and Windows Phone 7 devices with gesture-recognition tech.
Result for: ceo steve ballmer
During his company’s latest quarterly earnings conference call, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer spoke about the company’s plans for tablets in the near future, but remained very scant on the details.
The company posted its best quarter ever last week, but has been openly criticized for its lack of strategy in the tablet market, as well as in other consumer businesses.
When asked specifically about tablets, Ballmer said Windows has been available on tablets and slates for years, with constant sales. However, none of Microsoft’s devices have ever come close to the buzz created by Apple’s iPad.
“Apple has done an interesting job of putting together a product,” Ballmer said, admitting that “they’ve certainly sold more than I’d like them to sell.”
“For us, the job is to say we have a lot of [intellectual property] and software and we’ve done a lot of work on ink and touch,” he continued, via PCW. “We have got to make things happen. Just like we had to make things happen on netbooks, we have to with Windows 7 on slates. We’re in the process of doing that as we speak.”
Without giving more details, he concluded: “We’ve got to push right now with our hardware partners. People will say, ‘When?’ I’ll say, ‘As soon as they are ready, and it is job-one urgency.’ Nobody is sleeping at the switch.”
Any timetable for a new tablet release? They “will be out in not a heck of a long time.”
