No WhatsApp for new Nokia 8110 (yet?)

The new Nokia 3310 was pretty much a basic feature-phone, lacking apps and a web browser in its first iteration. Fast-forward 12 months and the company has revealed the redesigned Nokia 8110, packing the KaiOS platform (or the “Smart Feature OS powered by KaiOS”).

Being a spiritual successor to Firefox OS, the platform, and hence the 8110, also offers a KaiOS store for apps, making it more capable than the 3310’s platform.

Nokia brand custodian HMD Global has also added a few more big-hitting apps to the 8110, including “Google Assistant, Google Maps, Google Search, Facebook and Twitter”. But we got confirmation from Pranav Shroff, director of global portfolio strategy and planning at HMD Global, that WhatsApp isn’t available — at least not yet.

“We don’t know yet, we don’t have it right now,” Shroff answered.

“We are not closing doors on that (WhatsApp) right now but it’s not something we have on the asset (sic) today.”

The comments suggest that talks are ongoing, so don’t be surprised if we do see WhatsApp land on the platform. Then again, the Facebook-owned company might be hesitant to throw their weight behind the platform, after killing support for BlackBerry OS and Windows Phone.

WhatsApp tends to play the wait and see game with mobile platforms, so it might be a case of the company waiting for initial shipment/sales figures before hopping on board.