Back at MWC 2014, Nokia surprised everyone by announcing the Nokia X series of Android handsets. An odd move by a company who has not been shy to throw their eggs into the Windows Phone basket, and for a company on the cusp of being acquired by Microsoft, who coincidentally enough owns the Windows Phone platform that Nokia uses on the majority of their smartphones.
That being said, with the Nokia X lineup running forked versions of Android, it could pose a problem in terms of app availability, although Nokia reassures that 75% of Android apps will be compatible right off the bat, but in the meantime it seems that Nokia has managed to strike up a partnership with the Line Corporation in Japan which will see the Line messaging app preinstalled on all Nokia X smartphones.
In a statement released by Naver, the parent company of Line, “In partnership with Nokia, Line will work to boost its global presence through various joint-marketing efforts and by exposing Line in Nokia Store and TV commercials.” For those unfamiliar, Line is a popular messaging app used in Asian countries like Japan and Korea.
While it sounds like a great way to get users up and running in communicating with their friends right out of the box, it is an odd partnership given that Nokia’s VP of mobile phone marketing recently stated that countries like the US, Canada, Japan, and South Korea will not be getting the Nokia X series, especially in Japan where the app is one of the country’s most popular instant messaging app.
However for the countries that will be getting the smartphone, we guess the Line messaging app will be one of the apps you guys can look forward to on your brand new Nokia-built Android handset.