Nokia 'sold out' to Windows Phone says Intel boss

Nokia has made a mistake by hooking up with Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 platform according to Intel CEO Paul Otellini.

Nokia backed-out of a recent deal with Intel to make devices based around the MeeGo platform in order tyo concentrate on making devices for Microsoft's latest mobile OS.

Now Otellini has accused the fading Finnish mobile giant of selling-out to Steve Balmer and co and reckons, if anything, the company should have listened to Google's pleas to join the Android platform.

"Incredible offers"

He says Nokia boss Stephen Elop received "Incredible offers - money" from both Google and Microsoft in order to make devices for those operating systems.

He added: "I wouldn't have made the decision he made, I would probably have gone to Android if I were him. MeeGo would have been the best strategy but he concluded he couldn't afford it."

Otellini reckons that Nokia will now struggle to differentiate itself from other manufacturers on the closed WIndows Phone 7 platform.

He says: "It would have been less hard on Android, on MeeGo he could have done it.

"Some closed models will certainly survive, because you can optimise the experience, but in general, if you harness the ability of all the engineers in the world and the developers in the world, open wins."

New partners

In the wake of the MeeGo platform's status as a complete non-starter, a sore Otellini says Intel will find new partners in order to press ahead in the mobile sphere.

He added: "We will find another partner. The carriers still want a third ecosystem and the carriers want an open ecosystem, and that's the thing that drives our motivation"

So despite the WP7 tie-in seeming like a perfect fit for the embattled mobile giant, Nokia can't seem to catch a break. Shareholders are dissatisfied with the deal and rumours continue to persist that Microsoft is preparing an eventual takeover. Tough times.

Source: Reuters