NOKIA TESTED ANDROID ON LUMIA PHONES BEFORE MICROSOFT DEAL

Lately, I published a post about microsoft buying Nokia.
A report by the New York Times
sheds light on what Nokia’s future
could have looked like without
Microsoft in it. Allegedly, the Finnish
company was testing Android on
Lumia devices before the deal with
Microsoft was announced.

Nokia had the option to get out of
the Microsoft partnership in late
2014. Testing out Android devices
was preparing the company for such
a future. According to NYT’s sources,
getting Nokia devices to boot
Android was an easy task to
accomplish from an engineering
perspective.
Microsoft executives were apparently
aware of the Android project inside
Nokia. However, its existence wasn’t
part of the acquisition negotiations.
A potential switch to Android by
Nokia would have had massive
consequences for Microsoft. The
software giant would have taken a
particularly serious hit, as Nokia
accounts for over 80% of all Windows
Phone devices sold. Nokia would
have certainly gotten the better part
from such a deal (the company’s
current share of the smartphone
market is 3% for the first half of
2013, down from 32.8% in 2010) –
Android powers about three quarters
of all smartphones sold globally.
So, there it is, folks. Nokia
smartphone with Android was
indeed a real possibility.
Considering the new reality for the
Finnish company however, we doubt
it will actually happen.