I read the whole thread, enjoyed the debate. However, shocked that no one has put it out there yet.
Windows Phone IS NOKIA's life line (and may be vice versa for now!)
If Nokia did not get all these exclusivity it wouldn't have killed it's own baby so ruthlessly!
I loved Symbian and I've grown using it. That OS never got updates in my phone's life cycle and yet I loved it. Nokia killed that OS because even though there were billions of 'me' using it, they were making a loss. They could have easily gone for Android or created their own new OS.
They have instead decided to scratch all their OS gradually starting with Symbian, Belle will follow soon, Meego (does it exist?).
Nokia is MSFT's girl friend. Doesn't matter how many really loyal friends who are girls (HTC, Samsung etc) are with MSFT, they haven't given up their heart and soul like Nokia has. If MSFT buys flowers or gifts or lunch for ONLY NOKIA, I don't see that to be unfair at all. Nokia deserves it. All other girls (HTC etc) who are MSFT's "just friends" are already sleeping around with other dudes (Android) and they are boasting about it. MSFT has all the rights to be waaaay more into Nokia than any of the other girls. But that doesn't mean MSFT doesn't like them or they don't like MSFT. It is mutual. This is how real life relationships work and this is how business relationships are contracted. Nothing new.