It's fair to say Nokia's dual smartphone approach – supporting both longtime partner Symbian and its new venture with Intel, MeeGo – has left many people wondering whether the Finnish giant has a handle on the market.

In the view of Nokia's new head of mobile solutions Anssi Vanjoki, however, it's exactly the fact the firm is backing both horses that will ensure Nokia will regain its crown as the best provider of high-end smartphones.

Smartphone Symbian

Speaking via Nokia's official blog, Vanjoki – who took up his role at the company five days ago – states both Symbian and MeeGo appeal to entirely different types of consumer.

"Symbian is our platform of choice for Nokia smartphones," Vanjoki says in the entry, where he admits he has become "obsessed with getting Nokia back to being number one in high-end devices".

"What is consistently overlooked is that Symbian still accounts for more than two-fifths of the global smartphone market. People want a smartphone that is familiar, packed with features, offers great performance.

"With products like the N8 and others to follow, we have preserved the best and most familiar parts of Symbian, making it effortless for the largest population of smartphone users to upgrade."

Vanjoki essentially pitches Symbian as a safe bet for consumers making their first smartphone purchase, with the N8 offering a familiar set-up for users used to Symbian's feature phones.

You go MeeGo

MeeGo, however, appears to be the OS for the future, with Vanjoki suggesting its use will expand beyond handsets in the coming years, in much the same fashion as Android.

"As Symbian gears up to compete with the likes of iPhone and Android, MeeGo is taking clear aim at the computing space," he continues.

"We believe it will power the computers of the future. From the ground up, MeeGo is a computer operating system. For consumers, it will mean true computing power in your pocket. Something that can deliver everything you want, but be with you all the time."

While Vanjoki's comments offer the first real distinction between the two platforms from Nokia itself, presenting Symbian^3 as Nokia's near future answer to iPhone and Android may well be ill-advised.

Both iOS and Android appear equipped for future developments, yet Nokia appears to be suggesting that's a territory reserved exclusively for MeeGo – customers having to switch from one OS to the other as technology moves forward.

Either way, Vanjoki dismissed any switch to Android and confirmed the company's continued support for Symbian beyond N8, citing a Symbian^4 Nseries device as a "very strong possibility".

[source: Nokia]