The smartphone world is awash with app stores and to keep those stores stocked with content those platforms rely upon developers to spend their time coming up with new and exciting apps. Do devs have enough time and resources to devote to all these different platforms though? That was the question posed to Nokia CEO Stephen Elop with regards to Windows Phone 7.

One dev posed the question of whether Windows Phone 7 could realistically grab enough dev time with the likes of Android and iOS dominating the scene. Elop responded:

"When we consider developers, there is a series of things that must be true. You have to have reach, you have to believe you can monetise, you have to believe you have a valid developer platform, and finally you have to great developer tools.We’ve actually studied this and asked a lot of developers all over the world, and, while its not the consensus, by far the majority view is that [the number of operating systems they develop for] is about 2.8 3 platforms. This was a critical question for us."

So the statistics, according to Elop, show that devs are perfectly willing to develop for multiple platforms and that three platforms is something of a 'sweet' number for them in terms of what they are prepared to take on. Interestingly Elop went on to suggest that if the research had shown devs were not willing to develop for Windows Phone 7 in addition to Android and iOS then that would have had an impact upon Nokia decision to partner with Microsoft. The implication being that an Android partnership could then have been on the cards.

Nokia recently announced support for Microsoft Windows Phone OS. The Finnish company is quite popular in India, one of the booming BRIC markets. Nokia India Managing Director, D Shivakumar, recently told Daily News that the first Windows Phone will be released in about a year time.

Nokia users should forget about Windows Phone 7 in its current version though, as Shivakumar said that Nokia is betting on a new version of Windows Phone that is better than previous versions. This version should the upcoming Mango update, which should be released to manufacturers in Q4 2011. 

Microsoft recently announced several upgrades for Windows Phone in 2011, and an IE9-based browser is expected to be part of the Mango update. Some rumors are suggesting that the Mango update will be hit by a delay, but at least Nokia already has a prototype of a Windows Phonesmartphone in a lab on Iceland. 

According to Shivakumar, Nokia plans to release around 20 Symbian smartphones in 2011, however, so we will keep our fingers crossed for a big Symbian high-end splash later this year. In the years ahead, however, Shivakumar believes Nokia will give Windows Phone a significant footprint in India.

I was glad to take Nokia out of my head for a whole week during MWC 2011. It allowed me to sort a lot of things out and understand what is going to happen next. There have not been a lot happening to Nokia since I wrote the article about the company future and they rather complement my article that pose a different point of view.

A new webpage called NokiaPlanB.com suddenly appeared and immediately became very popular. There a number of Nokia investors proposed a new course of actions besides Microsoft as the main Nokia partner for smartphone production. It had rather logical suggestions that were widely discussed and embarrassed Nokia. However, Plan B turned out to be just a hoax that, in my opinion, succeeded to interpret the sentiment of the audience. Currently their URL redirects you to a Twitter account saying that it was just a hoax. Well, I think, it succeeded completely.

Cunning reporters quickly found out that Nokia new CEO Stephen Elop did not give up his 130000 Microsoft shares and immediately called him a Trojan horse sent to Nokia to annihilate the company. There was no official response but during a meeting with the press in Finland Elop stated that he had sold the Microsoft shares and bought a stake in Nokia. Unfortunately, there is no respective entry in the Securities Commission so far. We will have to take his word for that.

All the last week Elop spent explaining the Nokia stance; in particular, he claimed that the company will not receive any bonuses from Microsoft for the agreement and that such allegations are merely speculations. However, the Finn trade unions' stance is very tangible they demanded layoff benefits to be at least 100000€ for every dismissed Nokia worker. According to the trade unions Nokia is going to lay off about 5000 people next year. Very unfortunate.

And there is yet another issue interesting in regard with the Nokia situation. The company rapidly loses the its market value, after the agreement was announced its stock plummeted and will be highly volatile in the future and there is no reason yet for the shares to go up. Let us have a look at who constituted the majority of Nokia investors in 2009.

We can see that de facto it is an American company and it is the American investors who set the course of actions. At the Barcelona congress I had an opportunity to thoroughly discuss the situation with a man who told me about the negotiations between Nokia and Microsoft back in November 2010. He considers the current events natural to the situation we observe. He thinks that to make Nokia use their OS is one of the Microsoft goals but not the main one. The main goal is to depreciate the company, lay off "unnecessary" staff and divide Nokia into two separate companies as it happened to Motorola and then to buy the phone branch of Nokia.

The strategic goal of Microsoft is not to just corner the software market but also to create a launch pad for the future in form of mobile devices operating under its OS. Currently MS positions on the mobile market are very weak and it is unlikely that anything changes in the short term prospects. While Android keeps gaining pace the inability of Microsoft to create a compatible OS is a threat to the company future. The biggest sales in the coming years will be on the mobile market and not anywhere else. Though this is still only a rumor. But if Nokia shares keep depreciating and the management takes strange decisions targeted only to further depreciate the company assets then, I believe, we will all know who will benefit from this.

Nokia CEO Stephen Elop is all over the headlines these couple of weeks. First announcing the alliance with Microsoft and Windows Phone 7, now saying that WP7 phones are getting a price slash big time.

Windows Phone 7 smartphones are certainly not the cheapest ones around. Microsoft's strict hardware requirements do not allow room for cheaper phones. In a recent speech Elop pointed out that one of the main topics of the arrangement between Nokia and Microsoft was allowing for lower priced smartphones, which will ease the jump for the current users of the more affordable Symbian smartphones.

Its important for Nokia to ensure that its Symbian users are not left in a disadvantageous position by the shift in software. Nokia primary goal is to convert them to the new smartphone platform rather than send them out in Droid land.

Elop also said that the deal with Microsoft and Nokia will be finalized in the course of the next couple of months so we will probably hear even more juicy details about the future devices to come out of this partnership.

Speaking during a meeting with Finnish business journalists, Nokia CEO Stephen Elop said the handset maker would produce inexpensive Windows Phone handsets quickly. The ability to produce smartphones with a very low price point was reportedly on of the key factors in selecting Microsoft as a partner for the future of the Finnish company mobile platform. "We have become convinced that we can do that very quickly" Elop said during this meeting on Friday. The final agreement between Microsoft and Nokia should be inked within the next few months and Windows Phone handsets are expected by the end of the year.

The initial response to Nokia decision to drop Symbian and adopt Microsoft Windows Phone has been mixed. The Finnish company’s stock dropped more than 20% and many Finnish employees unhappy with the decision took a voluntary day off when the deal was announced earlier this month. A group of stockholders claimed to be staging a coup to unseat Elop, but this Nokia Plan B initiative was later revealed to be a hoax.

Though many Symbian fans may be disappointed to see their mobile OS of choice disappear, mobile industry executives view the plan as a good move for two companies that are struggling in the mobile marketplace. Nokia is the top manufacturer by volume but is losing marketshare each quarter to Apple iPhone and Google Android OS. Microsoft is currently on the bottom, trying to fight its way up the ladder. This partnership will give each company a much needed boost.

Nokia CEO Elop also sold all his Microsoft shares on February 17th and purchased 150,000 shares of Nokia. The CEO came under fire earlier this month when it was discovered he held a large amount of Microsoft stock and none in his own company. The battered CEO claimed regulations prevented him from selling this stock during the negotiation period between the two high-profile companies. Now that the deal is public and close to being inked, the former Microsoft executive sold his interest in Microsoft and rightly invested it in Nokia.