• The New York Times, Friday, February 11, 2011 12:21 PM

Nokia and Microsoft on Friday announced a broad partnership to prevent Apple and Google from gaining even more ground in the increasingly critical mobile space. "The alliance ... is a bold gamble," writes The New York Times -- "perhaps a last-ditch effort for both Nokia and Microsoft ... to gain a lasting foothold in the booming smartphone business." "Like Nokia, Microsoft's global share of the heating smartphone segment fell [last year] -- by more than half," reports CNN, citing Gartner data. Yet, "With a global juggernaut like Nokia signed on, Microsoft's chances at success have improved, experts say."

The partnership -- under which Windows Phone will become the primary operating system for Nokia's high-end handsets -- can be seen two ways, according to GigaOm. "Is it the world's most powerful software company and the world's biggest handset manufacturer joining forces? Or is it two lumbering giants with serious weaknesses linking arms to try and weather the storm together?" Likely, it's a bit of both, it adds. According to Ben Wood, an analyst with research firm CCS: Insight: "Microsoft is the big winner in this deal, but there are no silver bullets for either company given the strength of iPhone and Google's Android," BBC News reports.

What's more, as Agence France Presse notes, "The choice [by Nokia] to adopt Microsoft Phone is a controversial one as the platform has also not done so well against Google's Android or the iPhone." "Espirito Santo Investment Bank said the Windows' operating system had "failed to gain traction,'" adds AFP, "and that a partnership with Google -- whose successful Android operating system had also been pegged as an option for Nokia -- would have been a better choice."

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