FollowEvleaks launched a vague announcement on Monday “Big news: Android-powered Lumia incoming, from Nokia by Microsoft”. Evleaks has a good track for providing credible info. So what can we understand out of the rumor that an Android powered Lumia might hit the markets?
Microsoft turned Nokia into a complete Microsoft company when the software giant bought the mobile phone company in April 2014. The software leader intended to enter the smartphone market in style. Nokia has been a supporter of Windows phones for a while now. Nokia’s impressive experience in mobile phone production, paired with Microsoft’s rich software development knowledge should have been a massive success. Staggering imaging capabilities offered through Carl Zeiss optics were the cherry on top of this marriage. Windows Phone market share is steadily declining in the US, even if it maintained a modest 3.4 percent in May compared to February. So what went wrong? Or, more precisely, what did not go well enough?
Android powered Lumia might help Microsoft cover Nokia’s acquisition cost
Apple’s success stems from a holistic approach, by perfectly combining hardware and software in a premium package. Microsoft’s history is one of delivering software for a multitude of stationary devices, similar to what Google is doing with Android now for mobile devices. Microsoft struggles to produce software with the largest possible compatibility umbrella. Maybe Microsoft has troubles in squeezing out the juice from a product now part of its ecosystem because it lacks adequate exercise. The company decided recently to open up its products’ compatibility with other OS because it was losing precious ground. But actually having one of the premium smartphones running Android seems like a sign of failure for Microsoft. What was the reason, then, for buying Nokia’s mobile division, other than producing smooth Windows running machines? The investment is not lost by any means. Just that Microsoft’s Windows Phone is facing some temporary problems.
From this point of view, a powerful premium smartphone might boost sales, as Cnet believes. Nokia was a high cost acquisition, with a final price of $7.2 billion. Even if it looks like a long term acquisition meant to strengthen Microsofts’s mobile market share, maybe Microsoft is attempting to recover the financial investment at a higher pace with an Android powered Lumia. At 81 percent, the worldwide Android OS market share is larger than all the other OS’s market share combined, so the potential move might be quite risky.
