Recently, Nokia and Qualcomm announced that they had agreed to close a partnership aimed at developing advanced mobile devices that will be smartphones working on a combo between Qualcomm’s Mobile Station Modem chip sets and Nokia’s S60 software on Symbian operating system. The latter is one of the best software platforms for smartphones and it will make use of Qualcomm's MSM chip sets so as to process performance and mobile broadband capabilities.

The two companies informed that the first handsets resulting from their partnership would be probably released in mid-2010, adding that they would be compatible with the upcoming Symbian Foundation platform.

Kai Oistamo, Nokia’s executive vice president of devices, stated that the company was thrilled to be in talks with Qualcomm concerning a collaboration that would design mobile adevices that would make use of the high level of integration found on MSM chip sets.

Nevertheless, the partnership might come as a surprise to people who are familiar with the legal battle that unfurled between Nokia and Qualcomm over a period of three years concerning patent licenses and royalty rights.

The two settled back in June 2008 and Nokia agreed to make an upfront payment and pay royalties to Qualcomm as the result of the settlement that will be valid for another 14 years.

Steve Mollenkopf, executive vice president of Qualcomm and president of Qualcomm CDMA Technologies, said that the partnership between the companies would lead to significant progress in mobile performance.