Nokia Puts Symbian OS Out to Pasture

Nokia will outsource development of its Symbian cellphone operating system to Accenture, as start out of the company's plans to develop smartphones based happening the Windows Earphone 7 OS from Microsoft. In the outsourcing serve, Nokia will move around 3,000 employees to Accenture, who testament still work on the mobile OS for the foreseeable future.

Nokia unveiled a partnership a partnership with Microsoft in February to develop smartphones based on the Windows Ring 7 mobile operating system, but this wish non happen until earlyish 2020 (see official concepts). Until then, under new management (a former Microsoft executive), Nokia has to save almost $1.5 billion in order to better compete with the likes of Google Android, Research In Motion and Apple.

The mobile giant, still the creation's largest telephone set manufacturer aside volume, is slashing 7,000 jobs, around 12 percent of its workforce. Besides the 3,000 workers mobile to Accenture, 4,000 other people wish be laid murder, mainly in Finland, Denmark and the Unitary Kingdom.

Nokia is as wel axing around 1,400 people from the MeeGo team, a mobile OS matured with Intel that is yet to debut on popular consumer products. Along with Symbian, which will still be used in lower-final stage Nokia phones, the two waterborne OSs represent Nokia's legacy operating systems, which pundits say do not measure up to modern competitors such as Android and iOS.

Stephen Elop, Nokia's president and chief executive said: "At Nokia, we have new lucidity around our path forward, which is focused along our leading across smart devices, mobile phones and future disruptions. Yet, with this new focus, we too testament face reductions in our workforce. This is a difficult realism, and we are working closely with our employees and partners to identify long-term reemployment programs for the talented people of Nokia."

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