It's not that much about Android and phone providers as it's about Symbian/S40/S60 and Nokia's feature phones. Hi-end smartphones is an away match for Nokia so

It's not that much about Android and phone providers as it's about Symbian/S40/S60 and Nokia's feature phones. Hi-end smartphones is an away match for Nokia so they're bringing the game to their home turf. Apple is not interested in this market (at least for now, iPhone Nano rumors appear every two years) and Android is not designed for phones that cheap (I know because I got one: Galaxy Ace). The strategy seems logical: push WinPhone into cheap hardware, build an ecosystem, grow a brand awareness among the users and make some solid money in the process (thanks to a high volume). If they'll execute this right people, while upgrading their phones in a year or so, will be more likely to choose familiar looking Windows Phone 8 smartphone over "strange" Android or iOS. The only problem is: Nokia didn't manage to do so with Symbian and can't afford another failure. BTW, if I were Ballmer I would push for a tablet designed for this part of market as well. A Kindle Fire but without Android flaws and hiccups. Nokia could make one that'd be strongly integrated with their phones - for example: a tablet without camera but flawlessly cooperating with all the Lumias, 808 PureView and so on.