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Forums - Gaming Discussion - Nokia Releasing First Android Phone

Finnish Smartphone Maker Readies Device for Barcelona Exhibit

Microsoft Corp. MSFT +0.79% is turning to an unlikely ally to boost its presence in mobile phones: archrival Google Inc. GOOG -0.29%

Nokia Corp. NOK1V.HE -0.57% , whose mobile-device business will soon be bought by Microsoft, plans to introduce this month a smartphone powered by a version of Google's Android mobile software, according to people familiar with the matter.

Nokia engineers had been developing the Android phone before Microsoft struck the €5.4 billion ($7.4 billion) deal last September to buy Nokia's handset business and license the Finnish company's patents. It hasn't been clear before now whether Nokia would move ahead with the Android phone, expected to be introduced at the Mobile World Congress industry trade show starting Feb. 24.

The decision to release the Android phone underscores how badly Microsoft and Nokia each miscalculated in the mobile market. For technical reasons, Microsoft's Windows Phone operating system doesn't yet work on the low-cost smartphones that have become big sources of growth, particularly in emerging markets.

Nokia was once the king of cellphones in emerging markets. But it has lost ground because it was slow to respond to Android's popularity in many countries. In India, where Nokia's Symbian-powered phones held a big share of cellphone sales just a few years ago, Android was installed on 93% of new smartphones shipped there last year, according to estimates from research firm IDC.

"Android has the entry-level smartphone market almost all to itself," said Neil Mawston, an analyst at research firm Strategy Analytics. "Microsoft's missteps in the low-end smartphone market are costing it and Nokia huge amounts of lost volume."

At least for now, Microsoft appears willing to outsource part of its phone lineup to Android to boost volumes and support its handset manufacturing operation. Higher sales would help cover the high cost of competing in a smartphone industry dominated by Google,Apple Inc. AAPL -0.01% and Samsung Electronics Co. 005930.SE -0.69% , according to people familiar with the matter.

At the same time, Microsoft will focus attention on Windows Phone devices to better compete with pricier smartphones such as Apple's iPhones or Samsung's Galaxy devices.

It isn't clear whether the Android phone strategy is a stopgap measure while Microsoft refashions its Windows Phone operating software to work on lower-priced smartphones.

The Nokia phones will differ from most other Android smartphones, and won't access some Google-developed features or Android apps from the Google Play storefront, said the people familiar with the matter.

Instead, the phone will come installed with digital services created by Nokia and Microsoft, including mapping service Here and streaming music service MixRadio, as well as a Nokia application store.

The strategy echoes the approach of Amazon.com Inc., AMZN -3.47% which has used a modified version of Android for Kindle tablets that don't accept Android apps.

Some mobile-phone companies in emerging markets also sell Android phones that don't connect to the Google Play app store. Google backs Android, but the software can be modified and distributed by phone makers and developers.

Google declined to comment.

One reason for the Nokia acquisition, Microsoft executives have said, was to improve its chances of hooking consumers in emerging markets.

When those phone buyers move up into pricier smartphones with more features, Microsoft executives have said they want to ensure the company is in a position to grab a slice of those upwardly mobile consumers.

Phones with low prices "are often the first connection with technology that people in many places in the world have with any kind of communications or information technology device," Steve Ballmer, then Microsoft's CEO, said in a conference call in September. "We look at that as an excellent feeder system."

Microsoft said last fall that it needed to sell 50 million Lumia phones to break even on the business. Last month, Nokia said it sold 30 million of its Lumia Windows phones in all of 2013.

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304104504579374893734151208?mg=reno64-wsj



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kowenicki said:
This is a rumour... but it could be a smart move if they play it right. Slightly fanyboy article that...

Obviously pitched at the arse end of the market where android excels.

I wouldn't touch it with a barge pole though, partly because I dont buy cheap phones and partly because I don't like android.

That sums up your whole comment.

They need Android, it seems Windows Phones make it impossible for the device to be in the range of budget phones. And they need the budgetmarket to make a profit, as the premium one is virtually locked to Apple and Samsung as of right now.



kowenicki said:
This is a rumour... but it could be a smart move if they play it right. Slightly fanyboy article that...

Obviously pitched at the arse end of the market where android excels.

I wouldn't touch it with a barge pole though, partly because I dont buy cheap phones and partly because I don't like android.

I guess that's Nokia looking to return to it's home base then. It became the biggest name in mobile because the arse of the mobile market is really big (so good to read people who spell arse right) and Nokia used to live there.

Kinda makes sense for Nokia to keep WP as the premium / enterprise OS and for Android to serve the rest of the market.

I like cheap(ish) phones because they do 90% of what expensive phones do at 45% of the price. But I avoid arse end phone because the hardware is shite. But if Nokia can actually get its mojo back and make arse end phones with decent quality hardware then they could easily get my money. Before smartphones were a thing Nokia was my preferred brand of mobile phone. But once I went Android I never went back so I left Nokia behind.

We'll probably be switching our smartphones at work from Blackberry to WP8, now that we're finally migrating from XP to Win8.1. So I could easily end up with a WP8 work Nokia and an Android personal Nokia.



“The fundamental cause of the trouble is that in the modern world the stupid are cocksure while the intelligent are full of doubt.” - Bertrand Russell

"When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace."

Jimi Hendrix

 

good to see that some won't be bullied to use the Android Core Google apps.. Like Google did with Samsung..
http://recode.net/2014/01/29/after-google-pressure-samsung-will-dial-back-android-tweaks-homegrown-apps/

Android is getting becoming more and more a closed system which i really dislike..



 

Face the future.. Gamecenter ID: nikkom_nl (oh no he didn't!!) 

Probably Nokia was thinking about jumping the WP boat and MS decided to buy them and avoid that. But the phone is already in production and it's better to release it and just test the waters.



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kowenicki said:
binary solo said:
kowenicki said:
This is a rumour... but it could be a smart move if they play it right. Slightly fanyboy article that...

Obviously pitched at the arse end of the market where android excels.

I wouldn't touch it with a barge pole though, partly because I dont buy cheap phones and partly because I don't like android.

I guess that's Nokia looking to return to it's home base then. It became the biggest name in mobile because the arse of the mobile market is really big (so good to read people who spell arse right) and Nokia used to live there.

Kinda makes sense for Nokia to keep WP as the premium / enterprise OS and for Android to serve the rest of the market.

I like cheap(ish) phones because they do 90% of what expensive phones do at 45% of the price. But I avoid arse end phone because the hardware is shite.


to a degree that is right yes.  its the featurephone sales that have dropped rapidly so this could help replace some of those.  But you cant deny they have some very good phones these days.

They do indeed. But it was Nokia's almost fatal mistake to narrow their range in smartphones to the premium/sub-premium range and not service the high growth budget smartphone market. I don't remember much about Nokia's Symbian smartphone days, but back then no one made budget smartphones, those only came along with Android.



“The fundamental cause of the trouble is that in the modern world the stupid are cocksure while the intelligent are full of doubt.” - Bertrand Russell

"When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace."

Jimi Hendrix

 

The android phone with WP skins and full of MS services. Good strategy.



I finally decided to leave Nokia for a change and try me some Android (never used it). Still not sure if it'll become Samsung or Sony though.

I always, especially when Nokia was the biggest deal around, enjoyed my Nokia's. Gonna see what all the fuzz about Android is about though.



weaveworld said:
I finally decided to leave Nokia for a change and try me some Android (never used it). Still not sure if it'll become Samsung or Sony though.

I always, especially when Nokia was the biggest deal around, enjoyed my Nokia's. Gonna see what all the fuzz about Android is about though.

You should've done that a long time ago, but late is better than never :D

Which phone are you getting by the way?



kowenicki said:
Somini said:
weaveworld said:
I finally decided to leave Nokia for a change and try me some Android (never used it). Still not sure if it'll become Samsung or Sony though.

I always, especially when Nokia was the biggest deal around, enjoyed my Nokia's. Gonna see what all the fuzz about Android is about though.

You should've done that a long time ago, but late is better than never :D

Which phone are you getting by the way?

This sums up your whole thread

Such a childish comment! I bet you think you've gotten your 'revenge' or however it it you view your cred on this website.

It's like hearing of a gamer who's never played on Playstation. That would be so unusual i'd question the reasons behind it.