• Wall Street Journal, Wednesday, November 17, 2010 10:51 AM

Christopher Lawton writes that Stephen Elop's first major decision as Nokia's new CEO might be the most critical to the company's future: it is sticking with its MeeGo (and Symbian for its midrange smart phones) operating systems rather than adopt Google's Android.

Software is where the margins are at, Lawton points out, so risky as it may be, MeeGo is a differentiator. Using Android or another platform would likely leave Nokia stranded in the steadily lower margin business of hardware.

Software developer Jonathan Banner has played around with an early version of MeeGo and believes Nokia can eventually make good products -- which will include tablets, televisions and even automobiles, it says -- with it. "I think they've got a strong chance," he says. "If they get MeeGo sorted out, it's game on."

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