Newkia Seeks Nokia Defectors To Make Android Phones

An interview this week with former Nokia Asia-Pacific CEO Thomas Zilliacus suggests that a collection of former Nokia employees will be converging in a company called Newkia to create Android devices. Does the word of this ZD Net interview mean your Nokia Android Nexus dreams can come true at long last? Not so fast – per the word of Zilliacus himself, this company was only formed the day Microsoft announced their acquisition of Nokia's devices and services business – that was just three days ago.

So while it would seem like a fantasy situation that a new company would be made with ex-Nokia employees making an Android wonderland in the near future, you may be wise to take this all with a grain of salt. Zilliacus currently runs an investment company by the name of Mobile FutureWorks, a company that also employs Jorma Nieminen, former Nokia mobile phones CEO, and Sven-Christer Nilsson, former CEO of Ericsson.

"We set up Newkia literally the day Nokia sold its phone business to Microsoft. It was the day Nokia died in Finland, and the new Nokia was born in Newkia. I know Nokia employees who are keen to develop for Android and maybe would like to join us.

I strongly believe Nokia still has the best know-how in terms of mobile phones and we want to get the best people to join us." – Thomas Zilliacus

Zilliacus was a Nokia employee for "over" 15 years and was the Asia-Pacific CEO for seven, leaving the company in 1993. He was then a regional consultant for Nokia in the area for a further three years – and today suggests that Nokia continues to make the best phones in the world.

It would also seem like a great place to be, this "Newkia", if people like Marko Ahtisaari jumped aboard. He's still the Nokia VP of design right this minute, but will be departing in November of this year to "pursue entrepreneurial opportunities." Does it seem entirely absurd to consider this new company an opportunity Ahtisaari might take hold of?