On this site, I’ve previously railed against the evils of manufacturer and carrier customization, as I think it’s a major problem, leads to market fragmentation, and half of what’s wrong with Android. Windows Phone 7’s greatest strength is its steller interface and user experience, and letting manufacturers run slipshod over that seems a recipe for disaster.
Unlike other manufacturers, it seems like Nokia has been given the go ahead to treat Windows Phone 7 like their personal sandbox, Nokia Executive and Board Member Niklas Savander said that Microsoft has given them carte blanche — but that they won’t make any changes that will delay the rollout of updates to customers.
Given how poorly Nokia has managed to keep up to date with the world of smartphones, I can’t say I really trust them to design the software side of things — let them do their hardware stuff and stay away from the wonderful elegance of WP7.
Totally agree with your final comment – I want Nokia to leave the software along and purely focus on hardware.