Nokia (NYSE:NOK), Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Need To Move Quickly

All the analyzing and comments - pro and con - about the decision by Nokia (NYSE:NOK) to use Windows Phone 7 as their flagship smartphone platform are irrelevant. Both companies need to take an aggressive approach and operate with a sense of urgency if they want to have the deal be successful.

Nokia has the foundation in place, and Microsoft has a good platform available, and could make it much better in a relatively short period of time.

If they could introduce a "wow" factor into the phones, they could definitely become a long-term player in the market.

They need to, for the most part, ignore the endless paralyzing analysis and just do it.

While Microsoft has rightly - in some segments - been considered a company holding onto the past while having little momentum heading into the future, they can still come up with products like Kinect, which exploded into the marketplace and generated tremendous, positive buzz.

If they can do it with the Xbox they should also be able to do it with Nokia's smartphones.

Assuming they can innovate in a compelling manner and throw out an array of products as quickly as possible, they could do some significant damage and become a real player in the field and turn things around.

When everyone has pretty much ruled you out of the game, that's the time to go on the defensive. None of the talk about it being too late should be a part of the mindset of the two companies.

Consumers are fickle, and even when many think it's cool to castigate Microsoft, that doesn't stop them from buying products like Xbox and Kinect, let alone their business software products.

In other words, if Nokia and Microsoft can start an ongoing number of product launches which draw attention to the smartphones and deliver on their promises, this could be a very powerful competitive combination.

While some say the high-end smartphone market is locked up by Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Google (NASDAQ:GOOG), that's not a given, as pricing at the top are already pressuring margins, especially with Apple, which is expected to drop prices.

Apple and Google aren't going to stand still of course, and Nokia faces challenges on the lower end of the pricing spectrum from Chinese companies.

It won't be easy, but Nokia and Microsoft have a legitimate chance to succeed, even with all the naysayers.

Speed, execution and delivering on their promises could catapult them into the fight in a long-term meaningful way. It'll be very interesting to watch them to see if they take advantage of the fantastic opportunity, or squander it.

Nokia closed Friday at $9.36, dropping $1.52, or 13.97 percent. Microsoft closed at $27.25, falling $0.25, or 0.91 percent.