Joe Belfiore: Nokia/Microsoft deal will result in "even better phones at a faster clip”

CNET interviewed Joe Belfiore, corporate vice president at Microsoft, about the benefits about the Nokia/Microsoft deal.

He noted that the main benefit from the deal was that Microsoft and the Nokia handset division could work together even more closely, which would result in "even better phones at a faster clip.”

"There are real-world examples of situations where Nokia was building a phone and keeping information about it secret from us," said Joe Belfiore.

“We would make changes in the software, or prioritize things in the software, unaware of the work that they’re doing. And then late in the cycle we’d find out and say, ‘If we had known that we would have done this other thing differently and it would have turned out better!’"

He notes that Microsoft and Nokia worked very closely together on the Nokia Lumia 1020, which allowed Microsoft to make changes to the core OS to accommodate the 41 megapixel camera.

He also said the partnership would allow Microsoft to get to know other regional markets such as China and other emerging markets better.

"In developing countries, end users share files over Bluetooth commonly, and in the US people just don’t do that," Belfiore said. "We didn’t even have that feature, and we didn’t even understand or appreciate the degree to which it was critical."

The Bluetooth File Transfer feature is one clear example amongst many where Nokia pushed Microsoft to add features who’s significance the US-centric Microsoft  did not understand.  Information such as that can however be found for free in the comment section of any Windows Phone fan site, or even on Microsoft’s own Windows Phone User Voice site, so one wonders if Microsoft really spends enough time listening.

Via WPC