We know that Microsoft has bought Nokia’s handset division for $7.17 billion. This clearly means that future Nokia phones will run on Windows OS. But lately it’s been reported that Nokia was developing an Android phone before Microsoft purchased it.
Nokia reached a deal with Microsoft in 2011 to use Windows Phone on its smartphones. Since then the Windows OS running Nokia handsets have captivated much attractions of people, but the sales ratio was not up to the mark as expected. Many people think that if Nokia had made those handsets based on Android OS, it could have captivated a lot more attractions of people, and thus would have sold more devices. Nokia even understood that many people were defying its handsets due to Windows OS. Nokia had an option to exit that partnership with Microsoft at the end of 2014. Whether or not Nokia had planned to go for making Android version handsets, but all on a sudden earlier of this month, Microsoft bought Nokia’s mobile division. Microsoft’s acquiring Nokia’s mobile divisions means all future Nokia phones are going to be running on Windows OS.
Now if questioned, if Nokia had understood that making Android OS based handsets would enable them captivating a lot more attractions of people than the phones made on Windows OS and increase the sales ratio of the handsets, wouldn’t it be making Android version handsets? Logically the would be undoubtedly “Yes.” The interesting thing is The New York Times has reported that a team within Nokia had installed Android OS on its Lumia devices as part of a “confidential project” well ahead of negotiations with Microsoft.
Two people of Nokia who knew about the confidential project for the condition of being anonymous mentioned that if Microsoft hadn’t bought Nokia’s phone business, then possibly Nokia would have adopted Google’s Android operating system for its phone after late 2014. These two people also said that Microsoft executives were aware of the existence of the confidential project during purchase.
When Susan Sheehan, a spokeswoman for Nokia, and Frank Shaw, a Microsoft spokesman were asked whether or not Nokia really had been developing an Android phone before Microsoft’s purchase, both declined to comment.
As the combination of Nokia’s hardware and Google’s open-source Android will never happen, but a group of ex-Nokia employees have undertaken the task to create an Android handset called Newkia.
Source: The New York Times
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