Nokia (NYSE:NOK) Finally Dropping MeeGo, Heading for Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT)?

While Nokia (NYSE:NOK) has an extremely weak market presence in the U.S., some forget they're still the leading smartphone company in the world, although its global market share has dropped from 39% in the fourth quarter of 2009 to 33.1% in the fourth quarter of 2010, according to IDC.

A growing number of unconfirmed but reliable reports suggest Nokia is dropping MeeGo, the latest coming out of Europe.

With the high probability of that being true, the conjecture at this time is Nokia will probably partner with Microsoft and their Windows Phone 7. That would empower Nokia to lower R&D costs and provide access to a promising platform.

Nokia CEO Stephen Elop used to be a senior executive at Microsoft, which is where some, but not all, the assumptions are being based on.

For Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) this would be a major achievement in having immediate benefit from placing its software into the largest handset manufacturer in the world.

Microsoft has been desperate for a type of win that would give them a big boost, and if Nokia in fact is in play, it would huge for them.

Whatever Nokia's strategy ends up being, the market won't have to wait long to find out what it is, as CEO Stephen Elop said he'll reveal the changes he's about to make at the company on Friday.

Nokia closed Wednesday at $11.73, gaining $0.45, or 3.99 percent.