We just heard a couple of days back that the US market wont be seeing anymore of Symbian and the Nokia N9 wont be officially released either. Well as it turns out the US market is not the only one in that list. UK has also been added to the “NoGo for MeeGo” list; though the Symbian profile would not see any cuts like the US.
What makes the news surprising is the fact that the MeeGo laden Nokia N9 had got a very positive response from the UK, which interestingly even Nokia acknowledged. Nokia issued a press release to paidContent stating that Nokia’s product portfolios are different for each country, and decisions for each market is taken after a local assessment of the same. Although the press release also states that Nokia was delighted with the very positive response received for the N9, it was never intended to be sold in the UK market.
The decision might be the direct result of the fact that Nokia N9 has a very similar hardware to Nokia’s upcoming Windows phone Sea Ray. And Nokia would not really like to re-ignite the debate on their decision to leave their very own platform MeeGo behind in favor of Microsoft’s platform. There is also a possibility that the sales of Nokia’s Windows phone might get affected if a lot of consumers end up buying the N9.
At the end of it all its clear that Nokia is very focused and committed to its strategy and is doing everything in its power to ensure that they push the Windows phone in the best way possible. With Nokia going ahead with Windows as their only platform will definitely help Windows attract developers resulting in a lot of apps and a better ecosystem. It would be very interesting to see if Nokia, once a leader in the mobile industry (not so long ago), will be able to turn its fortunes (and some market share) towards itself. Our outlook of Windows phone 7 + Nokia remains positive.
