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Comment by rodh257 | Hacker News Reader

Wait until Nokia gets WP7 phones out there, then we'll really see whether it'll be the 3rd player or not.

I disagree. I think the market has truly changed. Back in the feature phone days, it really did matter whether you had an LG, Samsung, or Nokia phone. Now, not so much. You either have an iPhone, an Android phone, or a Blackberry. Nokia's done some great things in the past, but their brand alone won't be enough to cover for the weakness of the WP7 ecosystem.

Nokia's success depends far more on the strength of WP7 than does WP7's success rely upon the strength of Nokia.

IMO It's a chicken and egg situation, developers will go where the users are. I think Nokias brand name will generate a decent bump in sales, enough to get apps flowing through. As long as the major apps are in the store, the average user who might otherwise buy an Android device won't know the difference (at least not at the time of purchasing).

I hear it's different in the USA, but here in Australia many people would LOVE to buy a Nokia, their brand name is associated with 'quality'. If Nokia can hit the right price points, I can see users who have been disappointed with their budget Android devices heading to the 'safe haven' of a Nokia device.

It will take a while to gain momentum, but I'm optimistic on the outcome. I hope they go well because I'd love to develop for WP7.

I don't think he's referring to Nokia's brand name. Personally I'm looking forward to the Nokia phones, though not holding my breath on their success.

Given the pseudo-acquisition of Nokia, MSFT has a golden opportunity here to create an end-to-end appliance the way Apple does; to make sure that they're selling a sexy package, instead of selling a sexy OS in blah hardware (i.e., all of the WP7 launch phones) or a blah OS in sexy hardware.

They can finally do the vertical integration that IMHO is sorely needed if anyone hopes to compete at Apple's level.

Buuuuut given MSFT's track record in recent years, and with the departure of some key heads (who pushed for vertically integrated "experience"-building, instead of OEM licensing), I'm not banking on it happening this way.

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