NOKIA AND Microsoft are to team up to take on Google and Apple in the fast-growing smartphone market. As part of the deal, Nokia will adopt Windows Phone as its primary smartphone platform, with its current operating system, Symbian, moved to a franchise platform.

The move is expected to result in significant job cuts at Nokia, as research and development spending is reduced.

Nokia will also use Microsoft’s search engine Bing to power searches, and its AdCenter platform will provide search advertising services on Nokia devices.

The Finnish mobile maker’s mapping software, meanwhile, will become a “core part” of Microsoft’s mapping services, integrated into the Bing search engine and AdCenter advertising platform to deliver local search results.

Nokia’s content and application store will be integrated with Microsoft Marketplace.

A partnership between the two companies has been rumoured for some time. Nokia chief executive Stephen Elop told a press conference yesterday that the company had explored other options, including adopting Android and internal systems such as MeeGo as its primary platform, but said Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 platform would give it a “faster path” to the US market.

The partnership with Microsoft is aimed at helping both companies claw back ground lost to Google’s Android software and Apple’s iPhone at the high end of the market.

Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer said Windows Phone 7 had received great reviews and feedback, and “strong engagement” from developers had seen more than 8,000 application developed for its Marketplace.

Mr Elop said the partnership would be good for consumers and developers. “This is now a three-horse race,” Mr Elop said.

He also said that, although although Windows Phone would become its primary smartphone platform, Nokia would continue to sell Symbian devices.

The company has lost some of its share the fast-growing smartphone market, falling to 27.1 per cent last quarter from 50.8 per cent when Apple shipped its iPhone in June 2007, according to Gartner.

Sales of the Finnish company’s low-end mobile phones, which make it the leading seller in markets like China and India, fell 10 per cent year-over-year in the quarter.

Mr Elop (47) was hired away from Microsoft in September to put Nokia on a comeback plan. – (Additional reporting: Bloomberg)