When it was
first announced that Microsoft was buying Nokia, it was thought this it will be
an acquisition that will be aimed towards the development of the Windows Phone
OS (operating system) platform to increase its share in the smartphone market
but that may be untrue if new reports are to be believed.
The Wall Street Journal has revealed that Nokia is ready to reveal an android powered
smartphone this month at the mobile world congress (MWC) in Barcelona according
to its unnamed sources.
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| Nokia's android smartphone. Image: evleaks |
There were
reports after Microsoft announced its $7.4 billion acquisition of Nokia that
Nokia was planning to make an android smartphone in 2014 and it seems that plan
was not aborted.
However, it
was reported that Nokia’s android smartphone will be heavily modified to leave
the Google Play app store out of the device. It is expected that most of the
apps will be from Microsoft and Nokia and will be downloaded from Nokia’s
android app store that will be developed.
It is
expected that this move is to boost Nokia’s smartphone sales in the low end
category of smartphones which Google has utilized to its full ability. Microsoft’s
Windows Phone platform is not suitable for low end smartphones due to its
various requirements.
However, this
is where Google’s android has excelled with most of its market share coming
from the low end android smartphones and developing economies. For instance,
International Data Corporation (IDC) reports that 93% (about 41 million) of
smartphones sold in India in 2013 had android installed on it.
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Nokia unveiling its first Android smartphone this month