You can’t get one past NokNok that easily. You have to get up pretty early to catch us out, my friend. Those pranksters over at Pocket PC Thoughts reckon Nokia is about to launch a Windows Mobile-powered smartphone called the N97w as early as May. The handset is supposed to resemble the N96 in everyway but with a touch-screen and Windows Mobile OS. The whiff of April Fool’s Day everyone!

More seriously, Symbian and Windows Mobile couldn’t be more unlikely smartphone bedfellows and we find it hard to see the advantages of Nokia switching over to the dark side even if this story had a semblance of truth to it. Sure, they could perhaps learn from Microsoft’s seamless PC synchronisation and its more business nose with Microsoft Exchange server integration but is there really anything else that Windows Mobile OS could bring to the smartphone party that Symbian hasn’t already?

As you know Nokia’s Symbian handsets monopolise a whole chunk of worldwide smartphone sales (around 60%), and with a more flexible and larger third-party software development community, the Symbian cause is in rude health.

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