Nokia Joins the Android Line-up with the Normandy

The tech giant Nokia has manufactured quite a number of mobile phones ever since it has ventured into the telecommunications industry. It had pioneered a multitude of innovations that paved a way to make advanced mobile computing a reality. However, Nokia wasn’t able to maintain the momentum and keep up with the standards of the growing industry; to no avail, it resorted in selling its mobile division to Microsoft in order to prevent further losses and restore the empire it had once built.

In the light of the purchase agreement between the two, many Android fans have had their spirits broken, thinking that there will never be a way for Nokia to release a smartphone powered by Google’s open-source OS Android. Once the sale has been realized, it’s but expected that all handheld devices that will be coming out the works carrying the Nokia brand will have Windows Phone as their mobile platform.

Let’s not shut the doors of possibilities just yet; for as long as the merger isn’t yet legally acknowledged, Nokia still has absolute control over its handset business. In fact, speculations from multiple sources have sprouted like mushrooms that the Finnish smartphone manufacturer is planning on releasing its first-ever Android-powered mobile phone, and the said device will be codenamed as “Normandy.”

Given the fact that this move by Nokia is unprecedented, what reasons could there be for the company to come up with an Android device now that the merger will soon be made official, not to mention when it had always relied on the Windows Phone to run its devices? Apparently, the Normandy aims to target the market of low-end phones as an equivalent of the Asha to further push low cost devices to potential first-time smartphone users. As it turns out, the Asha struggled to achieve widely acclaimed fame for its target consumers allegedly due to its Series 40-powered system. The limited app ecosystem where the Asha is built into was perceived as a major shortcoming; thus, an Android device will be able to address this issue where the Nokia Asha line-up failed to triumph.

However, even if this rumor is true, there is yet no assurance that the project will ever see the light of day. The people behind the Normandy project were informed that the device is planned to be launched on 2014, with one insider describing the efforts on the project as “full steam ahead.” Timing is crucial. If Nokia manages to release the Normandy before the Microsoft acquisition is completed, we will be able to get hold of the first and last Android-powered Nokia device. Otherwise, if the Nokia-Microsoft deal overtakes this project’s release, it may not ever come into fruition, for Android is a conflict of interest for Microsoft over its own Windows Phone operating system. Let’s just cross our fingers and hope for the best.