Nokia may use Windows Phone 7 with new CEO

Nokia's decision to hire a former Microsoft executive as CEO may have also brought Windows Phone 7 into the company's OS choices if a rumor late Thursday is true. The company's board has reportedly given its new CEO Stephen Elop free rein to change operating systems as part of an overall shift in strategy. A "trusted" source for VentureBeat didn't expect WP7 to replace MeeGo or Symbian but that it would instead be a third choice.

Other contacts corroborate stories that Nokia will use the CTIA phone show in early October to release the N8 with AT&T. It would be a major coup for Nokia, which is facing collapsing US share and whose failed promises to regain a foothold in US smartphones is considered one of the reasons for Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo's ouster from the CEO role.

Officially, Nokia's mobile lead Anssi Vanjoki has cast doubt on alternative operating systems like Android as possibly leaving Nokia no room to differentiate itself from others. He hadn't commented on WP7, but it's already due to be used by ASUS, Dell, HTC, LG, Samsung and others, which could leave Nokia in a similar position as if it had chosen Google's platform.

If Nokia were to pick WP7, it would likely still be just a minority of Nokia's market share but could be large enough to give a significant uptick to Microsoft's dwindling influence. The platform might also help Nokia's US position by giving Americans a locally-made OS, much as Apple's iOS and Canadian firm RIM's BlackBerry OS are more familiar than Europe's Symbian.

By Electronista Staff