Nokia chief Stephen Elop reiterated this week that the company will produce a Windows-based phone by year's end, and have it in consumers' hands by 2012.
"We're right now, today, having people work on the first Windows Phone devices from Nokia. That work is already under way," Elop said in a Friday interview with Reuters.
Elop said that wouldn't be the case if Nokia and Microsoft had merged rather than struck a business deal. "To the extent that a partnership has been formed around what they're really interested in, then what would an acquisition bring other than a good year of anti-trust investigation, huge turmoil, delays?" he told Reuters.
In early February, Nokia said it would pursue a long-term relationship with Microsoft, and make the Windows Phone 7 operating system the foundation for Nokia mobile phones. The announcement was the talk of Mobile World Congress the following week, with companies like Intel and Google expressing their disappointment.
Elop confirmed today that Nokia considered Google's Android system, but ultimately decided that it would be difficult to distinguish itself from all the other Android-based smartphones on the market.
He also denied that the Microsoft deal will lead to layoffs at Nokia, though "if someone's not succeeding, they need to be helped or they need to be moved along," Elop told Reuters.
Earlier this month, Bloomberg reported that Microsoft will pay Nokia more than $1 billion to have Nokia produce Windows Phone 7-based devices.