yes but it's something they've been failing at for years. People buy their phones (around the world) because they make the best hardware, but they're losing ground to others who can make much better software.

Nokia 3310 was my first phone. It had the best software and user interface of its time.

Nokia 6310, featuring similar software, also dominated the market for business phones for a long time. Even when phones with color screens started to sell, people would still buy Nokia 6310 because it was reliable and easy to use.

Of course it is nothing compared to today's smartphones, but you're overestimating the talent and resources required to build good software, especially when they've got all the resources and talent they need.

Their problem is not that they can't write software. Their problem is the lack of focus, and this latest partnership only makes matters worse.

No, their problem is exactly that. They can't write software.

A software on 3310/6310 was much simpler than what we have today. It was hard to write because of the hardware requirements, but it was simple in design.

Please show me a piece of software you wrote, with UI as simple as the interface on 3310/6310, but also packing as much functionality.

    it was simple in design

The design was anything but simple. You only need to take a look at equivalent phones from Ericsson / Motorola from that time.

yes their software used to be the best but that was a long time ago, and things were simpler then.

From what I can tell they are cancelling all their different software efforts and focusing on making great hardware to go with Microsofts operating system. What makes you think this is making their lack of focus worse? Sounds to me like it's a step in the right direction? If they were adding WP7 to their current offerings I'd agree but I thought they weren't doing that?

Yes, for about 5 years I wouldn't buy anything but Nokia. And it wasn't because of the hardware, it was because the interface / usability was leagues ahead of the rest.

I wonder how many people bought a Nokia because it comes with free offline turn-by-turn navigation maps for most of the planet. I did then.

I don't think anyone disagrees on that point. But I see a lot of comments across the web (and here on HN) that people agree Nokia's strength is hardware, not software. If they don't have strength in software, can they really execute innovation, differentiation, and shareholder value at the software level? Elop's clearly shown where he stands on that thought with his burning platform memo. And I think the majority of people (from what I've seen from anecdotal evidence) agree with Elop.

Yeah, what are the chances they would come out with a compelling smartphone software platform in the next few months? It's hard to do good work with flames around you. ;-)

Maybe MeeGo would be great but that's certainly unclear at this point. They had years to come out with compelling software and they did not deliver. Essentially these guys are asking for more time.

At this point the steamroller that is Android is up to speed. I don't see how MeeGo is going to make inroads anymore unless it is drastically better. Even though WP7 is actually shipping, it has a similar problem. IMHO, it has to be quite a bit better than Android in order to gain much market share.

No, it isn't undeniable. IMO it's quite the opposite.

Are you saying that the software is the place it's the easiest to create a competitive advantage? (I understand that shareholder value equals to competitive advantage)

This statement is logically wrong - if it's easy for everybody to create a competitive advantage, then it's easy for nobody.

Or did you mean "It's software where Nokia can gain a competitive advantage against the competition". If so, then you should explain what is so special about Nokia.. Because from what we've seen so far this company proved anything but that it can do software well.

Or didn't mean a competitive advantage, but just innovation and differentiation? (I think that most people that repeat this statement do think it). Well - it is indeed easy to innovate and differentiate in software (change the UI, add some bells and whistles). But does it lead to the competitive advantage and shareholder value? There are plenty of examples to show that it doesn't (Symbian, BeOS to name a few).

So: no. Just because Apple uses software to gain shareholder value doesn't mean that it's just as good an idea for other hardware producers.

"most easily be created?" ...I don't see it that way. Building mobile software platform which would be attractive to both users and developers is extremely difficult to build. They already failed several times at that.

I think this is just the same old Nokia thinking - underestimating the difficulty of creating top notch software.