This is completely un-analogous. It would be similar if Microsoft paid Apple $150 million to cease OS development and differentiate themselves merely as a Windows PC builder (which would have made iOS and thus the iPhone and iPad completely impossible). Unless you own the platform, you are selling commodities.

Of course, Symbian was probably headed for the same marketshare hit that RIM (and previously successful Android builders like HTC) experienced this year, so I'm not criticizing the partnership.