Now that Microsoft’s acquisition of Nokia is a done deal we get to learn some interesting tidbits that could’ve changed the course of history. You see, before talking with Redmond giant over a possible sale of its handset business, Nokia did experiment with Android, preparing a low-end handset that supposed to launched in 2014. The Finns even wanted to create a custom version of Android similar to those Android is offering in its Kindle Fire tablets.
Although this information was kept away from Microsoft, they did know something like that was in the pipeline and perhaps that’s one of the reasons they went on with acquisition. Cause if Nokia launched a single Android-based device and it sold well, that could easily turn the table around in Google’s favor, with Nokia adopting Android as its main platform.
Meanwhile, Microsoft had its own “plan B” to repeat the “Surface story” with a smartphone. Sources familiar with these plans have revealed to TheVerge that a number of prototypes have been built to test the viability of such a device. This “Surface Phone” was intended to be ready in case Nokia canceled its commitment to Windows Phone. Alas that hasn’t happened and the rest is history. Still it’s interesting to speculate how the things would look like if Nokia adopted Android and Microsoft had to build its own phones (which it will now do). Any thoughts?