Is Android a better option for Nokia than Windows Phone 7 OS?

As Nokia wade through troubled waters with a worsening share value and diminishing market dominance, one wonders how it could possibly recover by tying up with something as low-profiled as Windows mobile OS, which runs a mere 4 million handsets when compared to the 400 million handsets run on Symbian.

At the D9 conference in California yesterday, Nokia CEO Stephen Elop explained the reasons for his decision to use Microsoft's Windows Phone OS despite having considered Android. The company reaffirmed its plans to get rid of Symbian OS by the fourth quarter in a survival bid where it is in deficit at world markets comparing to Apple 's iPhone and Google's Android.

Elop said that there will not be way to differentiate Nokia products in long term if they opt to stick to Android. But what Nokia would be conveniently forgetting is the vast ecosystem and users Android has already developed. In OS world, where user friendliness and familiarity matters, Nokia is more likely to stumble with Windows 7 OS. (Remember how Linux couldn't crack into an already established Windows OS user base).

Sometimes fighting your market rival might not be the best thing to do if you are trying to regain the market share. Nokia doesn't seem to get the point right. With Google CEO Eric Schmidt's Tuesday's statement that he still hopes for a tie-up with Nokia in mobile OS segment, it almost looks like Nokia is turning away the most lucrative deal they can hit in exchange of Microsoft's support. Instead of fighting Android, using Android to regain the market share is more plausible an option to Nokia right now.

Elop, who used to be associated with Microsoft until six months back, before he was hired by Nokia, seems to be rather adamant in his stance. As the downward spiral of Nokia shares continued, with a 15 per cent dip registering on Tuesday alone, the company is fast losing investors' trust. The share plunge immediately followed the company's warning that they wouldn't be making profit out of its phone sales in the quarter ending June, and that their actual business will be far below the earlier estimate.

Elop also denied rumors that Microsoft is taking over Nokia. Elop called the rumors completely baseless and confirmed that there have been no discussions on the matter.