Despite Nokia’s recent 7,000 employee layoff, there seems to be a lot of love for the mega corporation throughout Finland.
Undoubtedly one of the country’s largest employee, it seems like everyone has worked at the company at one point or another.
An interesting byproduct of the love for Nokia is the inherent acceptance of Windows Phone after the company announced its partnership with Microsoft last year.
According to Finland’s Software Industry Survey of 2011, only 3.3 of those surveyed believed the shift from Meego and Symbian to Windows Phone has directly impacted their core business.
Despite layoffs and the negative press asssociated with Nokia, Finns previously engaged with Meego and Symbian are keen to start developing for Windows Phone.
23.8 percent of the developers surveyed believe they will be developing for a Microsoft-based platform by 2012. Had Nokia not chosen Windows, no doubt the number thinking about developing for the platform would be much less.
The developer’s movement towards Windows Phone is significant because it could be the first steps towards what Nokia CEO Stephen Elop has called a “three horse race” between Android, Apple’s iOS and Windows Phone, creaing a newfound spirit of competition within the mobile market.
The survey also revealed that the same percentage of people expect to be developing for Android by 2012.
