February 11th, 2011. The day Nokia decided that it will go with Windows Phone as their next smartphone OS, instead of the much speculated Android. Perhaps, this was the precursor of things to come. At 6 A.M., Helsinki time, on Sept. 3, 2013, Microsoft announced buying of Nokia’s phone business for $7.2 billion. So why did Microsoft hurry to buy Nokia? Was it afraid of Nokia’s flirting with Android? Were there actually tests on Nokia running on Android?
There was wide speculation that Nokia was atleast looking at developing an Android phone to either altogether replace or work along with its Microsoft Windows line. There was a huge possibility that sometime after late 2014, Nokia would have shifted to Google’s Android.
But isn’t this what everyone else does? Looks at what everyone else is doing and plays with it?
Or was it Plan B which companies often have in case they need to change course on strategy or want to help negotiate better terms with vendors. An important thing to notice is: re-engineering Nokia’s hardware to run Android wasn’t next to impossible.
A team within Nokia had Android up and running on the company’s Lumia handsets well before Microsoft and Nokia began negotiating Microsoft’s $7.2 billion acquisition of Nokia’s mobile phone and services business. Nokia had produced a Foxconn Batch android phone prototype, in July, Nokia R & D center in Beijing, test code-named “Mountain View” entry-level Android phone.
If Nokia was seriously considering dropping Windows, then this for sure pushed Microsoft into the act. Of the Windows Phone OS platform, Nokia contributed a handsome 80% sale. A potential switch to Android by Nokia would have had massive consequences for Microsoft. Nokia’s success on Android would have meant waking up from the dream of Windows being a serious mobile OS platform.
One particular project in testing was codenamed “AOL” according to insiders — “Asha on Linux,” a reference to Nokia’s low-end line of devices that don’t run Windows Phone. Nokia’s experimentation with Android was not limited to the bottom of the line: the company was also testing Google’s platform on its mainstream Lumia range to hedge against the possible failure of Windows Phone.
Reports say Nokia was frustrated with the lacks of apps on Windows. It has a great catalog of apps but still a few essential ones are missing. In the past year, Nokia has released some of the most innovative smartphones available on the market, but with some vital apps missing, consumers were holding off from buying.
Its latest device, the Lumia 1020, features perhaps the best camera of any smartphone, but Instagram, the most popular mobile photo social network, isn’t available on Windows Phone.
A functioning Nokia Android phone could help Nokia muster enough courage to face Microsoft in all its dealings, even as a threat to permanently move over to the platform which powers more than 3 out of the 4 smartphones sold globally.
There was wide speculation that Nokia was atleast looking at developing an Android phone to either altogether replace or work along with its Microsoft Windows line. There was a huge possibility that sometime after late 2014, Nokia would have shifted to Google’s Android.
But isn’t this what everyone else does? Looks at what everyone else is doing and plays with it?
Or was it Plan B which companies often have in case they need to change course on strategy or want to help negotiate better terms with vendors. An important thing to notice is: re-engineering Nokia’s hardware to run Android wasn’t next to impossible.
A team within Nokia had Android up and running on the company’s Lumia handsets well before Microsoft and Nokia began negotiating Microsoft’s $7.2 billion acquisition of Nokia’s mobile phone and services business. Nokia had produced a Foxconn Batch android phone prototype, in July, Nokia R & D center in Beijing, test code-named “Mountain View” entry-level Android phone.
If Nokia was seriously considering dropping Windows, then this for sure pushed Microsoft into the act. Of the Windows Phone OS platform, Nokia contributed a handsome 80% sale. A potential switch to Android by Nokia would have had massive consequences for Microsoft. Nokia’s success on Android would have meant waking up from the dream of Windows being a serious mobile OS platform.
One particular project in testing was codenamed “AOL” according to insiders — “Asha on Linux,” a reference to Nokia’s low-end line of devices that don’t run Windows Phone. Nokia’s experimentation with Android was not limited to the bottom of the line: the company was also testing Google’s platform on its mainstream Lumia range to hedge against the possible failure of Windows Phone.
Reports say Nokia was frustrated with the lacks of apps on Windows. It has a great catalog of apps but still a few essential ones are missing. In the past year, Nokia has released some of the most innovative smartphones available on the market, but with some vital apps missing, consumers were holding off from buying.
Its latest device, the Lumia 1020, features perhaps the best camera of any smartphone, but Instagram, the most popular mobile photo social network, isn’t available on Windows Phone.
A functioning Nokia Android phone could help Nokia muster enough courage to face Microsoft in all its dealings, even as a threat to permanently move over to the platform which powers more than 3 out of the 4 smartphones sold globally.
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