Nokia: “The easier task is to start Windows Phone… the more difficult task is to continue to operate Symbian.”

Nokia has told the Financial Times their deal to hook up with Microsoft for Windows Phone 7 should be concluded within the month.

The transition to using the OS on the majority of their phones will however take longer but Nokia’s Jo Harlow said this was the easy part. “The easier task is to start Windows Phone from a fresh perspective, but the more difficult task is to continue to operate Symbian.”

Nokia said they expected they would lose market share during the transition. Chairman of the Nokia board Jorma Ollila said the board had “discussed explicitly that there would be an expected lower market share in the meantime with the opportunity then to pick up and build on the new concept”.

Nokia expects the transition to result in new revenue streams. Mr Elop said  Nokia would “participate in advertising revenue in a way that we’ve never before been able to do”. He also said Nokia and Microsoft would use their patent pools to protect the ecosystem and “encourage others who may be taking advantage of our patents to be properly licensed for the use of those patents – at a fee”.

Ollila noted the company was “very much geared to win”.

Read more at FT.com here.