Over the weekend, Nokia released an official statement reaffirming that it has “currently no plans to manufacture or sell consumer handsets”. The former top phone manufacturer is very much determined not to rejoin the business contrary to what’s being talked about in the industry. Last week, the company which sold its Devices & Services business to Microsoft last year was rumored to join the mobile business again. The former phone giant has been rumored to do all sorts of things like selling off its maps business but Nokia maintains that it will keep its world-leading patent portfolio, as well as, continue to honor the company’s FRAND undertakings.
The mobile industry is abuzz with Nokia making phones again and that it’s only waiting out its deal with Microsoft. The two had a contract that says Nokia should not sell any phones under the Nokia brand until the end of 2015. The recent Alcatel-Lucent purchase of Nokia brought about this idea but the former Finnish giant is making it clear now that Nokia will only continue to license its SEPs (standard-essential patents) as it shared earlier this month.
Nokia is not going to manufacture nor sell consumer handsets—not anymore. There is no intention to manufacture consumer handsets out of an R&D facility in China. All those stories and comments that incorrectly attributed an executive of Nokia Networks are false according to Nokia.
It’s final. What CEO Rajeev Suri himself made clear last November 2014 is absolute.
So there you have it ladies and gentleman, Nokia has said its piece. Expect no Nokia-branded phone because Nokia isn’t going back to the business…. not yet.
SOURCE: Nokia
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