Nokia is a name we all remember with nostalgia, for its incredibly durable and long lasting battery feature phones. However the Finnish electronics giant's market fell into jeopardy, when it was acquired by Microsoft.
The makers of the Windows operating system, tried to hard to push Nokia branded Windows Phones, and saw its efforts throttled by bitter rivals, Apple's iPhones and Android phones.
Nokia did try its hand with Android powered phones, but failed miserably with severely under-specced devices called the Nokia X, X+ and XL, back in 2014.
In the summer of this year, Nokia penned a deal with HMD Global, which grants the latter exclusive rights to manufacture devices under the "Nokia" brand name. Now, HMD Global has officially posted on the Nokia website, that Nokia will be launching new Android phones in 2017. Hopefully, these will be of better quality. A press release says that HMD plans to launch Nokai phones powered by Android in the first half of 2017. A Reuters report which includes an interview with HMD’s CEO Nummela, mentions him saying that the company has partnered with Google for the pperating system, and with Foxconn for manufacturing the devices.
There is some confusion amongst the general crowd, that this is just a use of the brand name, and not a true Nokia. If you look into the staff at HMD, it might change your idea of the company. It comprises of former Nokia executives.
- HMD's parent company, Smart Connect LP, is managed partially by Jean-François Baril, who was the Senior Vice President of Nokia from 1999 to 2012, and also worked with Hewlett-Packard, Compaq, etc.
- HMD Global's CEO is Arto Nummela, who previously worked fror Nokia and later for Microsoft Mobiles.
- HMD's President Florian Seiche worked for Nokia, Siemens, Orange and HTC.
- HMD's CMO, Pekka Rantala was previously employed with Nokia, before he left the company and was the CEO of Rovio Entertainment (of Angry Birds fame).
Rantala's famous comment which said Nokia will rise again, might well come true next year with the launch of its new Android devices.
HMD Wikipedia page used as reference