It has come to vision that mobile chipmaker Qualcomm and handset maker Nokia, once involved in a nasty legal battle, have joined hands together, as on Tuesday at the GSMA Mobile World Congress 2009.

Both companies made an announcement that they would collaborate on developing technologies for 3G smartphones sold for the North American market.

Nokia's S60 software that uses the Symbian OS, and advanced chipsets from Qualcomm, that use its Mobile Station Modem technology would be used in the latest devices. The companies confirmed that the first mobile device to be launched out of this collaboration is expected in mid 2010, and furthermore, it would be compatible with technology being developed by the new Symbian Foundation.

The confirmation of the partnership was given by Nokia's CEO, Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo while he was delivering a keynote speech at GSMA MWC on Tuesday morning in which he talked about the need for more collaboration.

He said, "We need to be open to change. We have to work with competitors and our partners in different ways than we have done in the past."

This partnership of course would raise some eye brows, if considered the not so friendly past of the two companies. The companies were engaged in a battle over patent licenses and royalty rights for nearly three years. Finally, the two companies settled their legal differences in July 2008, after they both sued each other.

Nokia, under the agreement, nodded its head in yes to pay Qualcomm back-royalties, plus royalties going forward. However, financial terms of the deal were never released publicly.