Nokia and Microsoft... Is this a recipe for a successful strategy?

...and we're back after a week off!

I read today in cnn.com about a shift in Nokia's strategy. The article states that Nokia's operating system Symbian currently is the number one smartphone platform in the world, with around 200 million users, but that market share is rapidly losing to Google's Android phones and Apple's IPhone.

To combat their loss of market share, Nokia announced that they will now build phones with Microsoft's platform, Windows Phone 7. It seems that this could be a positive move for the company, one that has struggled with releasing new operating systems in the past. Nokia partnered with Intel to build a new operating system, but that release was perpetually delayed. I believe this is evidence of the hedgehog principle. Nokia is strong in hardware and distribution, whereas Microsoft is best at producing software. Both companies need to focus on what they can be best at, and that isn't necessarily what they have been doing. As a third mover, however, this may not be extremely successful for them, unless they have a strong point of differentiation, such as price. It may be enough to save Nokia's lost market share, however. The future is unforeseeable, but this strategic shift, in my opinion, is a step in the right direction, though maybe too late...
...from the outside...