These days, when we think of Nokia, I’m sure a lot of us think “What could have been” when they made the decision to go with Microsoft and Windows Phone for the future. It was a decision that didn’t exactly make us jump out of our seats in surprise but it certainly wasn’t something we saw coming. Having Steven Elop become Nokia’s CEO – a man who once worked alongside Steve Ballmer at Microsoft – sparked the rumors that a Nokia Windows Phone devices was on the cards but, throwing all of their eggs in the Windows Phone basket was a little bit of a shock. It’s also a strategy that hasn’t done Nokia any favors, the company has gone down and down ever since that decision was made and it’s not particularly Nokia’s fault for goign in with Microsoft but, Microsoft’s fault for failing to deliver. The Lumia line of phones is one that delivers great hardware – great enough to make a lot of you out there take notice, or even switch.
A lot of us would have rather see Nokia produce Android phones and while their previous CEO was very vocal about why that wasn’t a good idea, Mr Elop seems a little more clued in on the current state of affairs in the mobile industry. When talking to El Pais Nokia’s CEO had the following to say in response to an interesting question:
El Pas: Do you discard launching an Android phone next year?
Elop: In the current ecosystem wars we are using Windows Phone as our weapon. But we are always thinking about what’s coming next, what will be the role of HTML 5, Android… HTML5 could make the platform itself–being Android, Windows Phone or any other–irrelevant in the future, but it’s still too soon [to tell]. Today we are committed and satisfied with Microsoft, but anything is possible.
While this is perhaps nothing more than a musing on Elop’s part it’s nice to see that the head of the once illustruous Nokia is not complete brainwashed by the empty promise of Windows Phone. With the smartphone space pretty crowded as it is, and with new players such as Tizen and Ubuntu phone looking to make inroads it leaves little room for Windows Phone. Microsoft’s mobile OS is certainly a solid offering and has a lot going for it but, like other new platforms, the only users they can hope to entice is new users to smartphones or hardcore Windows users. Both of which, there aren’t many of.
We’d love to see Nokia make Android phones and while that’s a pipe dream, we’d also like them to succeed no matter what. It’s been a real shame to see the company fall so hard as they have done these past couple of years and having one more player enter the competition is never a bad thing.
[Source: PhoneArena]