After former Nokia CEO Stephen Elop left Microsoft this week, there have been rumours abound suggesting that Nokia might be organising a little reunion, and return to the smartphone business altogether.
Even though this was labeled as nonsense just a few weeks ago by the company, an interview published in Germany’s Manager Magazin (spotted by Reuters) suggests that it’s absolutely a possibility. Nokia (at least according to current CEO Rajeev Suri) is seriously thinking about a smartphone comeback.
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“We will look for suitable partners,” Suri revealed in the interview.
“Microsoft makes mobile phones. We would simply design them and then make the brand name available to license.”
In essence, Suri is describing the system the company used for its Nokia N1 tablet. The Android tablet is designed by Nokia but fully built by Foxconn — the company tasked with crafting many Apple products too. It seems that the company’s manufacturing business is dead, but at least the N1 was one of the most impressively designed Android tablets we’ve seen.
Could that mean Foxconn could craft a few new Nokia smartphone handsets? It’s definitely a possibility according to the report.
Of course, Nokia sold its devices and services division to Microsoft back in 2013 for US$7.2-billion, which has cost Microsoft even more and a tiny piece of the market share. But it could be the perfect time for Nokia to reinvent itself, with Windows 10 on the horizon, and Android as an additional option.
Hilariously though, Nokia blatantly denied that it was returning to the smartphone space back in April with what could very well be the bluntest press release ever written:
Nokia notes recent news reports claiming the company communicated an intention to manufacture consumer handsets out of a R&D facility in China. These reports are false, and include comments incorrectly attributed to a Nokia Networks executive.
Nokia reiterates it currently has no plans to manufacture or sell consumer handsets.
It seems that nothing or no one can really be trusted in this industry after all.
