Nokia: We Have No Plans To Resume Making Or Selling Phones
In a somewhat unexpected move, Nokia has released a new statement making it as clear as day that the company has no plans to return to making and selling consumer cell phones. This is clearly in response to the rumors that keeping popping up every so often, with the latest being just last week, that they are going to attempt a return to the phone business sometime next year. This closest Nokia gets to the mobile industry right now is through licensing of their large portfolio of patents, as well as licensing their own name for the N1 tablet sold in Asia.
While the statement is very brief and outright denies the reports they intend to manufacture phones again, it's also a bit interesting how carefully worded it is. Are they possibly trying to leave themselves some wiggle room?
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.
Well, whatever wiggle room they may be hoping to achieve, they're unlikely to get it anytime in the near future. Microsoft's purchase of Nokia's phone business has been completed for a year now, and among the agreements to the deal are that Nokia won't sell any phones through the end of the current year, and it can't license its name to appear on any phones until the end of 2016.
It's unclear if the Nokia name will continue appearing on any tablet devices, like the Android-powered N1 in the future, but it is clear that the company is focusing on other areas. The belief is that they are trying to sell the HERE mapping service in order to put revenue towards their networking businesses. Not to mention they just purchased Alcatel-Lucent for over $16 billion, getting into the cloud computing and Internet of Things markets. Seems like a return to making phones is the last thing Nokia would be interested in right now.
SOURCE Nokia