14 DAY TRIAL // Now that we all know HMD Global plans to announce at least one Nokia-branded smartphone in Q1 2017, let's take a look at some of the decisions the Finnish company has made in order to bring the Nokia brand in the smartphone industry once again.
As many of you probably know by now, the next Nokia-branded smartphone that HMD Global will launch next year will run the Android operating system, but this time it will benefit from all Google's services and apps.
The last Android smartphone launched by Nokia, the X, made its debut back in 2014, but did not provide access to Google Play store or Maps and Gmail apps. Well, that's about to change since HMD Global has confirmed the new smartphone will use Google's Android OS.
During an interview with Forbes, HMD Global CEO Arto Nummela said that Google was as excited as anyone to welcome Nokia back into the smartphone business, more so since the phone comes with Android on board.
“Yes, we're working with Google, and they are extremely eager to see Nokia in the Android line-up,” said Arto Nummela. He went on to add that the new smartphone will launch in the first half of 2017.
If you're wondering what exactly “launch” means, Nummela was pretty specific saying that “launch means we'll launch the device to the public.”
Numella has also confirmed that HMD Global will be present at Mobile World Congress 2017 in late February, a piece of information that we already reported on last month.
HMD Global will initially focus on promoting the Nokia brand on the handsets, so it won't be their brand that will be prominent during the marketing campaign soon after the first announcements go live.
Although Nummela has confirmed HMD will launch one Android smartphone in the first half of 2017, we expect at least a couple more Nokia-branded phones to go on sale by the end of next year.