Samsung to lure engineers from Nokia as the firm abandons Symbian

March 10, 2011 - PRLog -- Nokia's new smartphone strategy to form a broad strategic partnership with Microsoft is likely to result in over 5000 jobs being affected in Norway as the largest handset maker implements a bold new move to revive its struggling smartphone business.

Nokia is seeking to adandon the company's Symbian platform over a period of two years and move towards implementing Microsoft's Windows on their smartphones. The unions are concerned over job losses in Norway and it is Samsung which is targeting this uncertainty over job security. Samsung has stated in a newsletter that they wish to entice unhappy Nokia engineers over to them to assist them in their work on bada (operating system).

Nokia's new strategy is regarding as a bold move in the industry and reflects the company's lack of competitiveness and success in the smartphone sector over recent years. Nokia key strategy is to focus on their strength in areas such as imaging where Nokia is market leader. Nokia also aims to help drive and define the future of Windows phone and will contribute towards the hardware design and language support. Nokia has already stated that they expect prices of smartphones to reduce as they implement their new strategy and compete with the larger smartphone players. As part of the partnership, Bing will be used as Nokia's search engine on the smartphones with Microsoft's mapping services also being used in combination with Bing to bring local search and advertising. In addition, Microsoft development tools will be used to create applications to run on Nokia phones which will enable customers to benefit from new functionality and programmes over time.

Samsung's newsletter which enticed Nokia engineers over to work on Bada has been commented upon although a spokesman for the company has stated that this was not an official document and that there is no strategic plan to hire from Nokia.

Bada represents Samsung's proprietary operating system for the low to mid-range smartphone market with the company aggressively competing with the Apple iPhone by pushing Samsung's Galaxy S phone.

Author: Mike King, Analyst

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