Nokia spurned by RIM before settling for Microsoft Windows Phone ’07 – report

15 years ago

“The battle of mobile ecosystems is now a three horse race: Apple’s iOS, Google’s Android, and Microsoft’s Windows Phone,” Steve O’Hear reports for TechCrunch. “Or so says Nokia CEO Stephen Elop now that the Finnish handset maker has jumped off of a burning platform into Redmond’s arms.”

MacDailyNews Take: That’s like saying a battle of the bands is now between The Beatles, a disorganized Beatles tribute band, and The Insane Clown Posse.

O’Hear continues, “However, TechCrunch Europe has learned that Nokia did indeed explore a partnership with RIM, which would have seen Nokia smartphones running BlackBerry OS. According to our well-placed sources, discussions between the two companies took place as Nokia in parallel explored the Google and Microsoft options. How far those discussions went isn’t entirely clear, although our source says that RIM wasn’t interested, but either way the fact that they took place at all is intriguing in itself. Not least because Elop has since attempted to airbrush out RIM’s place in the competitive landscape.”