Report: Android Nokia’s and Microsoft’s Surface Phone

According to a recent report by the NYtimes a Nokia Android device was more than just a distant possibility, in fact there were  Lumia devices running Android on them inside the company. Whether this was part of routine due-diligence or the possibility of Nokia seriously considering the Android route once their exclusivity deal with Windows Phone ran its course after 2014 is not clear.

A team within Nokia had Android up and running on the company’s Lumia handsets well before Microsoft and Nokia began negotiating Microsoft’s $7.2 billion acquisition of Nokia’s mobile phone and services business, according to two people briefed on the effort who declined to be identified because the project was confidential. Microsoft executives were aware of the existence of the project, these people said.

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/09/13/behind-microsoft-deal-the-specter-of-a-nokia-android-phone/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter&_r=1

We’ve heard (and can confirm to some extent) rumors that Nokia were seriously considering Android as a viable option, due to the slow development pace of WP8; this is very likely one of the reasons that Microsoft had to close the Nokia acquisition deal.

We at MNB can also report that Microsoft were indeed trying to work on their own homegrown phone, a surface phone if you will. An ex-Microsoft employee has shared some details on the device; including the fact that it had a 5″ screen, quad core processor and an average 8Mp camera. However Microsoft didn’t have the “know-how” of the logistics involved in manufacturing a phone, which was a second largely influential factor in their acquisition of Nokia’s devices and services division.

Tags: Android, featured, Nokia, Nokia Android

Category: Lumia, Nokia, Windows Phone