People say that if Nokia developed and sold an Android device, it would solve all the company’s woes away. But could that, or if Nokia does start making Android devices, will that really happen?
With the company’s newly announced Lumia 1020 flagship Windows Phone 8 Smartphone, Nokia’s stocks has continued showing their positive growth over the past month. During the same time span, the Finnish company’s stocks have surged a whole 17%, starting at $3.5 and closing trading day at $4.2 per share. With future Lumia devices in the pipeline, especially ones which might pack 1080p displays, quad-core processors and be the next Lumia flagship (the phones launched until now aren’t really flagship material, more like revisions and improvements of the original WP8 device, the Lumia 920).
In all this, people continue saying that Nokia should move to Android. Yes, we all want to see Nokia’s brilliant design and engineering skills running Android OS underneath, but does the company really need that? More so, will Android really save Nokia? Everyone in the world (who cares to read online) knows that the former Finnish giants are facing a situation, their cash reserves are running out and the company will keep bleeding till they are completely dry. Analysts predict that the fateful (dooms)day will arrive late in 2014, if the current trend continues. But seeing a positive influence in stocks with new Lumia devices paints a different picture. More and more people believe in the powerful brand that Lumia has evolved into.
Let’s think for a moment, what would happen if Nokia were to switch to Android? Well, for starters, they would have to work from scratch on an entire shell, or skin to run on top of Android. Now that’s a lot of work considering the high-quality UX proved by the likes of HTC Sense 5, TouchWIZ Nature and even MIUI. Running stock Android isn’t an option, a big brand like Nokia thrives on innovation and differentiation. For that, the company will have to invest huge amounts of money into R&D. Also, it is unlikely that they can recycle the phone design used in the (entire) Lumia range and churn out Android products. We’re pretty sure that Microsoft won’t let that happen. So there you go, more moolah spent on designing a phone from the ground up. Coming back to the cash situation, does Nokia have enough in its bank accounts to pull all this off? Probably yes. But will it have the money to operate say two years from now if it were to invest such a huge amounts in Android phone development? Most likely, no. And turnover from a would-be massive Android project would no doubt take years to show real profits (from all the development costs). Nokia doesn’t have that kind of time and money, and hence they don’t have the liberty to choose a new platform. Unless Lumia takes the company to great(er) heights, they are stuck in a slow death situation, well, until someone decides to buy them out (which was close to happening, by Huawei, as earlier reports indicate).
What do I think of all this? Well, the company should have let go of the Symbian^5 and Symbian^3 (Anna, Belle) platform much earlier, and worked harder on their Asha platform. Additionally, Nokia should have never let go of a partnership with the powerful and resourceful Intel in their joint MeeGo project. The Nokia N9 was well received, but the company’s leaders didn’t capitalize on it and decided to discard a project full of potential. Sadly, Intel found another partner, Samsung, and will launch Tizen powered devices by the end of the year. If Tizen were to become a grand success, boy would Nokia repent, and a fanboy here would say “I told you so, you should have listened to me Nokia.”
Image credit: Wp.Pandaapp
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