Nokia's (NYSE:NOK) CFO said the company plans to capitalize on its Symbian smartphone platform for years to come, even as it transitions to Microsoft's (NASDAQ:MSFT) Windows Phone 7 operating system as its primary smartphone platform. The comments fit with what Nokia has said since it announced its pact with Microsoft in February.
"We will of course utilize the long-tail of Symbian as long as it gives us profitable margin," Nokia CFO Timo Ihamuotila said at a UBS Technology Conference. "So the transition period 2011-2012 relates to product creation transition, not sales transition as such."
Nokia has said it intends to sell 150 million more Symbian phones during the next few years of the transition. The company has an installed user base of around 200 million Symbian phones worldwide. The company plans to update Symbian's user interface this year, and Ihamuotila said mobile devices often sell in the market for longer than many expect.
Earlier this week, Nokia said it will sell its Qt commercial licensing and services business to development services and usability tools provider Digia; financial terms were not disclosed. The Qt cross-platform development environment serves as the basis for Symbian software.
For more:
- see this Reuters article
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