Microsoft teams up with Nokia

In a widely expected move, Microsoft and Nokia have announced they're joining forces on the smartphone front. Nokia has long been a leader in the cell phone industry, but has fallen behind Apple and Google in the smartphone arena. Microsoft has been playing catch-up with its Windows Phone 7. The new partnership melds Nokia hardware with Microsoft software in what the companies hope will be a winning combination. 

Nokia CEO Stephen Elop and Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer announced their strategic partnership today in London. You can see video of the event on YouTube. Many industry observers have been expecting this development because Elop was head of Microsoft's Business Division before becoming CEO of Nokia in September, 2010.

What to expect from the partnership:

• Nokia adopts Windows Phone as its dominant smartphone platform
• Microsoft development tools are used to create apps for Nokia phones
• Microsoft's Bing powers search functions on Nokia devices and services
• Nokia Maps integrates with Bing
• Nokia's app store integrates with the Microsoft Marketplace

Nokia posts five reasons to get excited about a Microsoft partnership on the official Nokia blog.