Chief executive officer of Vodafone Germany said that the company welcomes Nokia Corp.'s decision to use Microsoft Windows Phone as its primary operating system since the cooperation creates the fourth major mobile ecosystem.

"We are looking very much forward to these new products that will come from this cooperation between Microsoft and Nokia. The market is dominated now by Apple and Android is picking up fast, RIM in the enterprise field is a very important solution as well and we think that the fourth operating system with Nokia and Microsoft will be a very positive thing for the market overall," said Jan Geldmacher, chief executive officer of Vodafone German, in an interview with IDG News-Service.

Mr. Geldmacher did not elaborate what was wrong with Nokia's Symbian platform, which was the most popular mobile operating system (OS) and which, unlike Microsoft's mobile platform, has been gaining support from end-users, albeit, has been losing market share.

Nokia's decision to drop support of its own Symbian and adopt Microsoft Windows Phone 7 instead yet has to prove its viability. Microsoft has failed to create a competitive mobile ecosystem throughout the most recent decade and despite the launch of WP7 its market share dropped further in Q4 2010. It is hoped that Nokia will help Microsoft to create a proper mobile OS.

The first Nokia phones featuring Nokia-enhanced version of Windows Phone 7 are projected to be released in late 2011 or in 2012.

Tags: Microsoft, Nokia, Windows Phone, Vodafone