Nokia adopted Windows Phone as the operating system in 2011. There were questions in minds of many people as to why Nokia didn’t adopt Android after killing Symbian. Earlier today at the AMA the company held, Stephen Elop was asked this question as well, and the reply was a little surprising. He said they were concerned as it would have put them in competition with Samsung, who is now the largest smartphone manufacturer in the world. Does it mean they were initially scared of them? Maybe.
When asked, “Hi Stephen, do you think that Nokia with Android is a good idea?” Elop answered, “When we made the decision to focus on Windows Phone back in 2011, we were very concerned that a decision to pursue Android would put us on a collision course with Samsung, who already had established a head of steam around Android. That was the right decision, as we have seen virtually all other OEMs from those days pushed to the side. Today, we are using AOSP to attack a specific market opportunity, but we are being thoughtful to do it in a way that accrues benefit to Microsoft and to Lumia.”
He said the company made the right decision, and is even working on AOSP, with the Nokia X, to target the market with their own services which will benefit Microsoft and the Lumia range. For emerging markets, it can create a lot of hype, but I doubt we’ll see any high-end devices running on AOSP as that category will be served with the Lumia range.
But, it does come as a surprise that Nokia was actually scared of Samsung. Personally, I think the Finns would have been in a totally different position if they worked on not just Windows Phone, but Android as well, even just for the emerging markets. If you take a look at it from another perspective, it was a right decision since they saved chunk loads of money they could have spent on marketing and R&D to compete against the Galaxy line up, and seeing how other Android OEMs are doing against Samsung, –take HTC as an example despite the fact that they create beautiful handsets — it was the right move to just focus on Windows Phone.
What do you think? Share your thoughts in the comments below.