Earlier this year the purchase of Nokia’s devices and services division was completed by Microsoft. The Redmond-based software giant has even phased out the Nokia branding from smartphones, even though it is sticking with Lumia. As part of its agreement with Microsoft, Nokia can’t re-enter the smartphone market for a couple of years, but it looks like the option hasn’t been taken off the table for when the restriction is finally lifted.
One thing that Nokia undoubtedly enjoys is brand recognition. The company’s name is nothing short of iconic and is synonymous with well-built devices around the world. It has even more recognition in emerging markets where Nokia’s low-end feature phones have ruled over the market for years.
During its conference call for the company’s third quarter report, Nokia reiterated that it recognizes that “Nokia brand is the most valuable recognition perspective in the area of mobile phones and mobile devices.”
As previously mentioned Nokia is the lock-up period with Microsoft which bars it from using the brand in the smartphone market and that is expected to end in 2016. Once that happens perhaps Nokia will think about returning, that will certainly make a lot of its fans happy.
But its easier said than done. Nokia gave up all of its talent and human resource to Microsoft under the deal. Not only will it have to build up that capacity once again, it would also require significant capital to capture the market against the likes of Apple, Samsung and the plethora of Chinese companies dominating the low end.
It will be interesting to see if Nokia decides to do this again, and whether it takes the easy route of adopting Android and then coupling it with sturdy hardware that it is best known for.