Windows Phone chief: Nokia to talk roadmap next week

From CNET News.com: "You have to wait just one more week because next week at Nokia World they're going to be announcing plans to roll out Windows Phones amongst other things," Lees told All Things Digital's Ina Fried at the event. "So, we're very excited for them to be in the market. Certainly they have a lot of resources in many parts of the world and that will be a huge accelerant to us."

Lees' comments on Nokia's plans confirm a report from Reuters earlier this month, claiming Nokia would show off its new line of devices as early as Nokia World in London next week.

Microsoft and Nokia announced an agreement earlier this year that paves the way for Windows Phone to become the "principal" operating system on Nokia's line of devices. Initially, there was some speculation that Nokia's Windows Phone devices would launch early next year, but based on earlier reports and Lees' comments today, Nokia has apparently pushed its timeline up.

Aside from talking about Nokia's future, Lees also dug into the company's past, saying that the vendor had considered going with Android or following a hybrid strategy and offer both Windows Phone and Android handsets. However, he said, Nokia was most impressed by Microsoft's plans.

"They did an evaluation when they were looking at their future strategy as to whether they should go Android or whether they should go Windows Phone or a mixture," Lees said of Nokia. "They saw our roadmap for this year and for next year--and I'm assuming that they saw the roadmap for Android--and they talked about how the products would come together and they decided to bet the whole company on Windows Phone based on that."

But Lees didn't only focus his time on Nokia. In fact, he took the opportunity during his interview to take a shot at Google's Android platform, saying that the integration of a "People" app in Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich), which allows users to see social network updates on several services, is "flattering," since it seems to mimic the functionality of Windows Phone 7's People Hub.

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