Forbes reports that Canaccord Genuity analyst T. Michael Walkley still thinks Nokia abandoning Symbian and jumping ship to Windows phone 7 is still the best route for the $40 billion company.
After dismissing staying the course, going full bore on Meego or adopting Android, he finally concludes Windows phone 7 is the best choice for the worlds largest mobile phone OEM.
He writes:
And that brings us to option 4: Adopt Windows Phone 7, and phase out Symbian. Walkley says he would lean toward this approach, for several reasons. For starters, Elop until he came to Nokia was president of the Microsoft Business Division, so he has close to Redmond. Two, he thinks the cultural fit with Microsoft is better than it would be with Google. Moreover, he contends that “these two companies need each other to succeed in the mobile market longer term.†Microsoft needs more OEM support to compete against Android; Nokia needs a new approach to stem market share losses in smart phones. He also sees choosing Microsoft as a partner could help Nokia build an effective combined strategy for smart phones and tablets. The combination, he thinks, would benefit both companies, given Microsoft a foothold against Android, and aiding Nokia as it tries to rebuild its presence in the U.S. He concludes that by teaming up, Nokia and Microsoft “could become a third viable OS versus a smart phone landscape dominated by Andoid and iOS.
Nokia’s analyst meeting in a months time could reveal the direction the company will eventually take, but we know which one we are rooting for.
Read more at Forbes here.