Nokia and Microsoft teamed up to take on its competitors Google and Apple in the smartphone market. The partnership would see Nokia adopting Microsoft’s Windows Phone as its main smartphone platform

The two entities would form a “broad strategic partnership that would use their complementary strengths and expertise to create a new global mobile ecosystem,” Nokia said in a statement.

“Nokia and Microsoft will combine our strengths to deliver an ecosystem with unrivalled global reach and scale. It’s now a three-horse race,” Nokia President and CEO Stephen Elop said.

Microsoft CEO Steven A. Ballmer said “the partnership provides incredible scale, vast expertise in hardware and software innovation and a proven ability to execute.”

Nokia has rapidly lost share in the higher-margin smartphone market to the likes of Apple''s iPhone, and products based on Google's Android platform claimed the top spot from the company last quarter.