Nokia Crushes Rumors That It’s Returning To The Consumer Handset Business, Releases Official Statement


After Nokia sold its phone business to Microsoft last year, rumors kept surfacing that Nokia was returning to the handset scene with something better. The company had a short but rewarding partnership with Microsoft in selling their Lumia brand. This year, Microsoft has come up with new Lumia models with the Nokia name stripped from the title, and what’s more, Nokia has officially killed rumors that they will be making any new handsets.

Recently, there have been a series of reports by Re/code that claim Nokia was returning to phone making. One report in particular insisted that Nokia was plotting to do this secretly, and was using its Nokia Technologies business to make it all happen. But today, Nokia released a short official statement, in which the company specifically denounces ideas of new mobile phones in the making.

“Nokia notes recent news reports claiming the company communicated an intention to manufacture consumer handsets out of a R&D facility in China. These reports are false, and include comments incorrectly attributed to a Nokia Networks executive.”

What’s really happening with Nokia these days? The company recently purchased Alcatel-Lucent for 16.5 billion, according to TechCrunch. Nokia is expected to focus more on cloud computing and IoT, in addition to its sensors, analytics, networking, and imaging in 5G. In the statement, Nokia wanted to be clear, so the company saw fit to be repetitive in the end.

“Nokia reiterates it currently has no plans to manufacture or sell consumer handsets.”

Though Nokia has made it clear that they will not be making more phones, the Finnish company has also made it clear that it does have other plans. It was recently reported that Nokia plans to use a backdoor into phones, where their name would not be in the forefront. Many believe that this is due to a decline in Nokia’s value. Recently, Nokia’s president, Ramzi Haidamus, made a statement on the value of the company and its future.

“We have a very valuable brand… Yes, it is diminishing in value, and that’s why it is important that we reverse that trend very quickly, imminently.”

The company has clearly chosen branding as its way back up the ladder. The Nokia Twitter account has recently shown some serious marketing.

Haidamus has confirmed the tech industry’s thoughts that Nokia would reenter the market through a third party. According to Ramzi, it will be clear to everyone that it is a Nokia product, even if it doesn’t bear the Nokia name.

“It will look and feel just like Nokia built it.”

[Image via Microsoft.com]

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