14 DAY TRIAL // Nokia didn’t do very well in the third quarter of the year, as sales of Lumia devices did not go beyond the 2.9-million mark, yet it seems that the company is still confident about the future.
In fact, Nokia CEO Stephen Elop even said that the company has a great position in the Windows Phone landscape and that not even a Surface phone made by Microsoft themselves would be able to counter that.
When asked during an investor call today what Nokia would believe of a possible Surface phone, Elop said that such a device would certainly be “a stimulant to the ecosystem."
He also noted that all handset vendors which are planning the release of Windows Phone devices are welcomed to do so, Microsoft included.
“We're encouraging of HTC and Samsung and Microsoft or whomever to have devices in the market and to be making whatever investments that helps spur the ecosystem on,” Nokia’s CEO said, according to The Verge.
Not too long ago, Elop said that there were no indicators that Microsoft was building a Surface phone, but things might have changed in the meantime.
However, Nokia is positioned quite well when compared to other vendors, the company’s CEO says, adding that others would have hard times coming up with solutions that match its current offer.
“We're very proud of the unique differentiation that we are bringing to the Windows Phone platform. It's not something that's easily replicated or reinvented or anything like that,” he said.
Nokia already works on other devices for the Windows Phone area, Elop suggested, saying that the “unpolished gems” from the company's Research and Development labs could be used to bring the differentiation that the ecosystem needs.
Microsoft has been long rumored to plan the release of its own Windows Phone 8 device sometime next year, yet nothing has been officially confirmed on the matter for the time being.