Nokia outlines Symbian outsourcing plans

Nokia has given more information on its plans to outsource the software development and support of its out-of-favour Symbian platform to Accenture, as it focuses on Microsoft's Windows Phone system.

Around 3,000 employees from countries including the UK, US, China, India and the company's home nation Finland will be taken on by Accenture when the deal closes, currently scheduled for October.

Staff will manage the Symbian platform until 2016 but will also offer support for the development of the Windows Phone platform for Nokia and other manufacturers.

Jo Harlow, executive vice president for smart devices at Nokia, said the move would ensure Nokia's past and future mobile strategies were supported as the company prepares for a difficult phase of transition.

"Our collaboration with Accenture allows us to meet our ongoing commitment to support our Symbian smartphone customers and continue to leverage the talent that has the deepest experience on the platform," she said.

"As we move our primary smartphone platform to Windows Phone, we will look to explore potential opportunities to tap this talent pool as they develop and expand their knowledge and capabilities beyond Symbian."

Gartner analyst Carolina Milanesi told V3.co.uk the move made sense for Nokia as it would allow the firm to fully focus on the Windows Phone 7 platform and put down a marker that Symbian is no longer a part of the company's future.

"Handing over the Symbian development to Accenture allows Nokia to keep its focus internally while continuing to make incremental improvements to Symbian in the short term," she said.

"Nokia is at a critical transitional time and needs to make sure the message internally is understood clearly as Symbian will be phased out."

Nokia has been struggling for some time to refocus its business in the high-end smartphone market, with chief executive Stephen Elop betting on the Windows Phone platform to turn the company's ailing fortunes around.

On Tuesday, though, the firm unveiled its N9 device – the first, and probably last, smartphone it will produce running the MeeGo platform, which it said it would ditch in favour of Windows Phone.

Despite this, the device has impressive specifications, boasting a 3.9in WVGA Gorilla Glass Amoled display with 854x480 resolution, and powered by a 1GHz ARM Cortex A8 processor with 1GB of RAM.