It’ll never happen now, but the dream of beautifully brawny Nokia hardware loaded with dominating Android software was an idea that Nokia had been toying around with before Microsoft swooped in and bought Nokia’s phone business. In fact, Android-powered Lumia phones actually existed inside Nokia. You heard it right, ANDROID LUMIA PHONES.
The NY Times reports that a “team within Nokia had Android up and running on the company’s Lumia handsets” long before Microsoft and Nokia crossed any t’s and dotted any i’s and danced to any Finnish folk songs in celebration of being bought out. The project was confidential but Microsoft was said to be aware of Nokia’s Android project.
The report doesn’t actually specify if Nokia was going to move forward with its secret Android project, just that it existed. And to be honest, the fact that Nokia was running Android on Lumia phones shouldn’t be too surprising given the less than successful (to date) arranged marriage of Nokia and Windows Phone. Either way, that project is certainly dead now. Oh what could have been. [NY Times]
Looking Back…
In 2010, before he departed Nokia six months later, former Executive Vice President Anssi Vanjoki had some choice words to say about manufacturers who’ve embraced Android, claiming it won’t pay off in the long run. Was he right?