
Nokia moves ahead with plans for a low-end Android handset - shawndumas
http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2013/12/nokia-moves-ahead-with-plans-for-a-low-end-android-handset/
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clumsysmurf
"According to the report, Nokia plans to fork Android to fit its purposes,
similar to the approach used by Amazon."

No, please no !!!

We have the Amazon fork; various Chinese forks; and now a Nokia fork ?!?

I think this damages the Android brand. The way Google has been consolidating
functionality into Play Service is a direct move against this kind of thing,
whatever they say about open source being good.

Whats the point of this? Samsung is making most of the profits from Android.
They dominate the high end Android phones with LG in second if I recall. On
the low end, there is a slew of junk but some interesting and very capable
devices like the Moto G (as far as I can tell, it could only use a better
camera and build quality).

Are they attempting to compete with the Moto G and future Google/Moto devices
targeted at this space, presumably as Google lets other OEMs have the high
end, using their own fork and ecosystem?

Maybe they should do Plan B with Ubuntu Touch and/or Firefox OS

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camus2
Nokia is not part of the Open Handset Alliance ( or whatever is the exact
name). So they can fork Android all they want , why not?

~~~
salient
No access to the Play Store, which makes the whole thing pointless. It really
is like starting from scratch.

~~~
dirtyaura
Android ecosystem is more complicated. In China, the largest market of the
next 10 years, Play store is irrelevant. Chinese market has several Android
app stores (Anzhi, Xiaomi, Wandoujia etc), and together they have hundreds of
millions of users.

It's likely that there will be different app stores in other growing Asian
markets with business models more suitable to their countries.

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nivla
This is going to be interesting to watch since Nokia now belongs to Microsoft.
I wonder if this is a tactic by Microsoft to tackle Google on their own turf.
Atleast its better than those embarrassing Scroogled campaigns. No matter what
it turns out to be, at the very best it will give the Open Handset Alliance
some competition.

~~~
seanmcdirmid
You know, Nokia could have planned/done the work for this before Microsoft
decided to buy them. The deal hasn't closed yet, and there is a firewall
between Nokia and Microsoft until then. Who knows what the future will hold...

(disclaimer: no inside knowledge from either Microsoft or Nokia)

~~~
AlexanderDhoore
Maybe someone at Nokia woke up and realised that if they are ever going to
make an Android phone, it has to be now. Once the firewall goes down, I doubt
even a single Android will get through.

They might be trying to setup a line of successful Android phones before
Microsoft PMs storm in.

~~~
daliusd
It is not like you can release new phone with different OS in a month. As well
it is not like Nokia is single solid company. There are speculations that
Nokia was killed by giving too much independence to different parts of
company.

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Nursie

      * 3 years too late
      * Should have done this at the high end
      * Fork? So no play store? Ugh.
    

There are so many people I know who would _never_ have left the nokia brand if
they'd gone this way instead of the MS way. Rather than go down the pan and
then get snapped up by MS they could have been competing with Samsung.

And I don't mean like the others compete with samsung for the scraps, they
could have captured most of the european market for android.

Actually scratch the first point, I think half the people I know with high-end
smartphones would probably still make the switch to a well-made, high-end
nokia android. The other half use iOS :)

~~~
maaaats
It's a myth that if Nokia made a high-end Android phone now/recently they
would have gained a massive user base. If it was so "certain" that every
commentator makes it out to be, they certainly would have tried by now.

And yes, they are too late. They were doing their thing, and suddenly iOS and
Android happened. But WHEN they decided to go down the MS road, they were
already too late for Android. They would have ended fighting for the scraps,
as you call it. At least now, they have a differentiating factor to them.

~~~
Nursie
>> It's a myth that if Nokia made a high-end Android phone now/recently they
would have gained a massive user base.

No, it's speculation.

>> If it was so "certain" that every commentator makes it out to be, they
certainly would have tried by now.

This is far from certain, their leadership (since Stephen Elop came aboard)
have been hell-bent on going MS exclusive, I doubt other options were even
considered honestly.

>> And yes, they are too late. They were doing their thing, and suddenly iOS
and Android happened. But WHEN they decided to go down the MS road, they were
already too late for Android.

You underestimate the HUGE brand loyalty they had in the european market.

>> At least now, they have a differentiating factor to them.

And look where it's got them.

~~~
maaaats
>> And look where it's got them.

Well, compared to a lot of Android brands they are doing OK, I think. Android
is all Samsung + a little bit Sony at the moment.

~~~
Nursie
I kinda meant stock crash, major layoffs and sold to Microsoft....

But sure, Lumia might be doing better than some of the minor android players.
Nokia had the potential to be a major player though. (IMHO, of course)

~~~
maaaats
Yes, that is true. They were too late from the very beginning in this era of
smart phones.

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sgloutnikov
This is highly unlikely right now I think. This was possibly a test device
they were working on before the WP partnership with Microsoft (and we know for
a fact there were such devices). Nokia just sold it's bleeding business to
Microsoft, and will concentrate on infrastructure and maps. Why would they
want anything to do with Android at this point? It is also way too early for
Microsoft (under Nokia's phone division) to be playing with it also, if ever.

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Kuytu
Microsoft wants to sell Windows Phones using Microsoft brand. How would
developing Android handset and selling it under Nokia brand help that cause?
It could be interpreted as lack of faith for their own platform.

Would Microsoft do it just to get time to convert Nokia customers to Microsoft
customers? Seems unlikely to me.

~~~
stonewhite
First of all, Nokia will be forking Android

Microsoft has earned more money from android (by lawsuits) then it earned from
WP8. Maybe it is trying to earn some more by embracing and extending.

And another approach would be like, Samsung Crapwiz will look the same even if
it switches to tizen or stays android. Similar to that, the latest Symbian
phones already resemble androids both in UI and UX. So changing the underlying
software would cause minimal attention. Nokia would only profit from this more
mature and capable technology.

~~~
camus2
> Microsoft has earned more money from android (by lawsuits) then it earned
> from WP8. Maybe it is trying to earn some more by embracing and extending.

It would be a big f_ck to all WP devs, why would they invest in Window
Platerform if all they need is a linux box to develop for MSFT phones ? But
hey, MSFT works in mysterious ways.

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Nux
Interesting. I own an Asha and pleased with it. Would buy a low-end Android
from Nokia, but I won't. Because it won't be from Nokia, it'd be from
Microsoft.

I'd rather just buy a N9 and put Sailfish OS on it. :)

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rurounijones
3 years too late.

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afsina
I say not gonna happen. MS bought Nokia, why submit to Android? Nokia will not
pay OS licenses anyway.

~~~
easytiger
They don't need to pay anyone anything.

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RyanZAG
What a joke. Nokia with the full backing of Microsoft can't even make a decent
OS. How do they expect to make a decent OS on their own after firing all of
their software developers? Pathetic grandstanding.

~~~
maaaats
You should really try a newer Lumia with Windows Phone 8. It works really
well. Differently than Android and iOS, yes, but that's not necessarily bad.

~~~
RyanZAG
Haha, sure, nobody likes WP8/Lumia besides Microsoft employees because clearly
they simply haven't tried it yet. Regardless of all the terrible reviews. Come
on, get a grip on reality.

The downvotes are even more amusing - does the truth hurt so much? Who is
going to build this whole new non-Google Android ecosystem (store, maps, mail,
etc)? Nokia's fired developers? Anybody who thinks this will work needs to get
a medical check up.

~~~
maaaats
I'm not a MS employee, and enjoy it very much. You get downvotes for acting
like a fanboy, not for telling "the truth".

