Nokia has been building its own Android phone according to multiple sources familiar with the company’s plans. Codenamed Normandy, and known internally at Nokia under a number of other names, the handset is designed as the next step in low-end phones from the Finnish smartphone maker. We understand that Nokia has been testing “Normandy” with a special “forked” variant of Android that’s not aligned with Google’s own version, akin to what Amazon does with its Kindle Fire line.
The release of this phone is slated for 2014, and is supposedly “full steam ahead”. I guess this will depend on how quickly Microsoft can complete the acquisition.
Unfounded speculation on my end: could this be the reason Microsoft went ahead and bought Nokia’s devices division? A successful Nokia Android phone would be quite embarrassing for them, after all.
Interesting. Looks like they positioned Android to be the replacement for Asha in the future, or at least they were until Microsoft bought them.
Nokia legally has to continue to operate as if the deal wont go through until it actually does go through due to anti trust regulation, so for the time being, if this is indeed a hedge betting skunk works project it needs to proceed as planned.
What intrigues me is how this phone plays into the existing commercial agreement between Microsoft and Nokia, and just how old this project is. Brand new projects like these often have like an 18 month cycle, so this could predate a lot of recent developments.
Seems like water under the bridge at this point though, the DOJ and EU have approved of the sale of the division to Microsoft and it’ll be a cold day in hell before Microsoft ships this.
OR it could be their controlled method to introduce their Android software offerings. Perhaps replace Google services with their own?
Microsoft seems to develop faster for iOS and Android than it does for WP.
I don’ think they will drop WP, but they don’t seem overly motivated progressing WP either. If they can get people to use their services and apps does it matter if more users have iOS and Android than they have WP?
Once people are used to Microsoft services Microsoft can market their WP products as devices that provide and even better experience.
The money is in Windows, Office and their Windows products (SQL, Exchange, SharePoint, etc…). It should be more important to tie people to those products than it is to make people use WP.
Depending on the legalities, it would be a very interesting move to if Microsoft replaced, Asha with some kind of Android blend – Amazon Kindle style – but whether it would make sense in a market place (more marketing/blogoshere space) where Android infact === google services is another matter.
Jolla apparently can run android apps (or will shortly) and even more, much like Blackberry.
Nokia, meanwhile was caught in a dot-Net, or a web, and sucked dry.
All the Android copy cat mobile OS will share the same fate as OS/2.
Great explanation. It made me think and I really learned something.
It’s time to get rid of China’s cheap phones and replace them with Nokia’s Android. Example, cheap Cherry Mobile phones today cannot beat what Nokia offers 10 years ago, software and hardware wise.
They may bring them to market but will do the Meego-trick to declare the devices EOL beforehand.
Nokia management, cause aborting success and shifting to the opposite is our mission. And now they can claim to have Android on that kill-list too. Unique!
Edited 2013-12-11 21:27 UTC
Elop has put an end to Symbian (“burning platform”, toussa…) so how can he have approved such in-house projects to come to completion ? They must have be funded some way or another, thus he might some days have found out.
Kochise
Kind of disturbs the trojan-horse theory.
Until you remember again that Nokia is dead.
Under Elop S40 greatly improved (after half a decade of stagnation), and new Asha OS came out of Smarterphone purchase. Apparently it’s not that Elop was againt internal OS projects, it’s just that Symbian really was bad (3-4 years ago its R&D costs were higher than the entire R&D of Apple, with meagre results).
Anything to do with this or completely unrelated?
Good question! Also, is this the “Asha On Linux” (AOL)?
I am perplexed by Nokia’s operating system strategy. First they spend many years on Maemo/Moblin/MeeGo/Mer…. Then they drop it for yet another non-ready-for-markt OS: WP. With little success in the market, so rumours keep rolling about Nokia working on Android powered phones….
Nokia has proven to be incapable of developing and marketing their own OS, so it would be a dumb thing to build yet another Android/Linux variant…. IF Nokia would launch Android-based phones (which I doubt), they should use stock (Google) Android. Focus on hardware and leave the software development to more competent parties.
If you were a talented hardware or software guy would you still be working at Nokia(the Titanic that has been sinking since 2007)? I expect very little from Nokia.
Look Elop is a Microsoft guy and always have been. He went to Nokia to help pave the way for Microsoft’s purchase. Nothing more.
How come so many people forget this? Think about it… Elop never even moved out of Seattle with his family. He commuted from there all the time.
He knew he would be coming “home” soon with a trimmed down Nokia that made only Windows Phones under his belt. He fired all the Symbion zealots to make this purchase a reality.
The whole Nokia ‘android’ phone was a smokescreen.
Normandy? Is it the place from where the A-invasion to Nokia-land begins?