Nokia and Microsoft Get a Helping Hand from AT&T

Nokia and Microsoft have teamed together to help each other reclaim market shares in the smartphone markets. Today, they just got a boost from wireless giant AT&T, which has just announced that it will be carrying the new Nokia Lumia 920, which will feature Microsoft’s Window Phone 8, Microsoft’s newest cell phone operating system.

Phones are an essential part of Nokia’s existence and its market share in the United States has declined rapidly, even though they are the largest cell phone manufacturer in the world. The initial release of the Lumia 920 will only be carried by AT&T in the United States when they are released in November.

Image via www.nokia.com

According to reports, the significance of this partnership is three-fold: after 14 years in the top spot in the mobile phone category, Nokia has fallen to number two and this may be the opportunity that they need to get back to number one; it is Nokia’s first “major attempt to launch a major product” in the United States; and, finally, it is the first major release of a Windows 8-powered smartphone.

Whether or not this partnership will be enough to destabilize Apple and Android is yet to be seen, but with the general consumer dissatisfaction over iPhone 5’s exclusion of major apps like Google Maps and YouTube, this may be the perfect time for someone new to dominate. By utilizing Nokia, rather than proprietary devices, Microsoft may have a shot in the market that has grown tired of constant feuding that has adversely affected consumers.

Microsoft is trying desperately to get their mobile software into a phone to allow them to compete with Apple and Android-based phones. These two struggling companies working together could be the answer to the problem each of them have been facing. These two companies have been key players in their own respective markets in the past: Nokia in the international mobile device market and Microsoft in the software market, so this collaboration could be the perfect union of software and mobile technology.

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