Google: We'd Have Loved to Partner with Nokia
With the dust still settling after Nokia and Microsoft’s newly-inked agreement to put Windows Phone 7 on Nokia smartphones, there’s a lot to discuss regarding the decision. One of the more popular questions over the last few days seems to be, “Why not Android?”
At the time of the announcement, Nokia CEO Stephen Elop said he had discussed the possibility with Google but ultimately felt that Nokia could not differentiate itself in the Android market. However, it seems Google was more than eager to welcome Nokia to the Android family. Speaking during his keynote address at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Google CEO Eric Schmidt said that they “would have loved” to have Nokia on board and that they “certainly tried” to convince the lads in Espoo to take Android over Windows 7. However, all is not lost, as Schmidt also revealed that it’s not off the table completely. The CEO said the offer for Nokia to adopt Android at a later date is “still open.”
Speaking to All Things D later that same day, Schmidt said that he and Android chief Andy Rubin had talked quite a bit to Nokia, but declined to say how advanced the talks had been. “I would rather not go into it,” ATD cites him as saying. Schmidt did divulge that Nokia understood the Android operating system pretty well at the time. Though that could be a case of Nokia just doing its homework before an important meeting, it also could mean that Nokia was considering it seriously enough for it to still be on the table for future devices.
Would you consider waiting to buy a Nokia smartphone if you knew the company might enter into a deal with Google for Android-powered devices? Let us know in the comments below!

and didn't google make fun of nokia after the initial announcement?
something about 2 turkeys joining forces or something.
why backtrack.
"Nokia could not differentiate itself if using Android phones" is basically a BS: Android allows for incomparable more freedom than WP7, so that Nokia could well differentiate itself by creating customized Android ROMs and by using district hardware. Everybody understands that Microsoft basically bought /bribed Nokia by offering enormous amount of money. Plus, Nokia hopes that Elop has special relationships with Microsoft which would give it some unofficial advantages... It might be a big mistake.
Me thinks M$ & Nokia are not stupid at all.
I just sold my apartment and bought cheap stock. After three years of ownership I'm gonna seell them and buy a house with a garage for two cars
Going the Android way ain't the "free way" at all; just keep that in mind.
Also, given Mr. Elop's history (simply taken, that is) he'll probably prefer closed OSes for tighter development, since even though u have Android, you still have to develop some of it to fit your phone; I still haven't heard of Google developing Android for specific phone makers, so I could be awfully wrong on that last statement.
Cheers!
"Nokia could not differentiate itself if using Android phones" is basically a BS: Android allows for incomparable more freedom than WP7, so that Nokia could well differentiate itself by creating customized Android ROMs and by using district hardware. Everybody understands that Microsoft basically bought /bribed Nokia by offering enormous amount of money. Plus, Nokia hopes that Elop has special relationships with Microsoft which would give it some unofficial advantages... It might be a big mistake.
In the end i dont really care what OS is running on my phone, I care about the quality of the stuff i put on it, Android if Rhapsody fixes itself (only thing stopping my buy), Win Mobile 7 if they dont. Any way it goes I have till Augest.
As far as I understand those going with Android currently do not pay MS royalties. That's what MS wants them to do, but not yet and hopefully never.
But yes, I don't see Mr. Elop playing nicely with open OS...
People choose a phone for its OS. The hardware manufacturer is less important. Nokia backed the loosing horse with Windows Phone 7. After Windows Phone 7 fades away to the land of discarded Microsoft mobile OSes in the sky, Nokia will be forced to join the more popular Android platform.
And for those in doubt, Microsoft (who barely has any mobile market share) is CLEARLY paying Nokia (who has the largest mobile market share) for this choice. This is the business equivalent of an Olympic basketball team choosing an 8th grade school girl for their team.
Considering Android is just another Linux distribution with a bastardized Java (yes, it gets more bastardized than Java, who'd have thought) sitting on top, Nokia could have easily differentiated itself using Android. Teenagers spitting out custom Android ROMs seems to indicate this as well. Though technical, It's not high science.
Android will be yesterday's news as soon as people get bored with it being a big fragmented mess as much as linux was. Being "differentiated" does not mean highly customizable per market...but it means not being just another Android like the other carriers have. All those thinking it is just a 2 OS brand market needs to take a basic class in statistics. Win7 phone will get 1/3 of the market purely based upon large populations and appeal.
I know people getting bored with their iphone's that consider the Win7 phone just because its different.
Again...my informal survey of every Android owner I know gets this response, "it's alright. Does what I need it to do.". Apple owners have a LOT more passion than that...and so do the Win7 phone users that I've talked to.
At least Apple and MS collaborate on intellectual property. Google is just hurting their own industry by handing everything out for free to try and obtain market share. America Online anyone? Hmmm....
How do you sell an apartment? Do you mean condo? I hope it works out well for you either way.
2) Google is a Linux company. Their search engine is a 200,000+ machine Linux cluster. That's it.
3) Microsoft claimed that Linux violates many of it's patents. Last time it tried to sue (this past year) they lost 3 of their patents. Please for the love of god, try again. While were at it, sue IBM as well, whose patent portfolio makes Microsoft's look like a ragged moleskine, and who's income is largely dependant on Linux.
4) OF COURSE Apple people are fanatics about their phone. Have you ever met someone who uses Apple? Apple could piss in a cup and feed it to them. Certain smart phone application developers actually charge only for the iPhone/iPad versions of their applications because "Apple people aren't smart with their money." On a side note, we actually studied them as a cult in one of our liberal arts media classes (GPA booster, of course).
5) You are correct about the percentage, though I doubt it'll be 1/3. As Google stated before, it's not a zero-sum game.
6) If you are going into ANY kind of science/engineering as a future, do yourself a favour and learn *nix now. I live in the south (you know, where we're all moronic and don't have paved roads XD) and even our universities (Engineering & CS Depts.) have replaced their labs w/ all Linux machines.
None of them are perfect if u think about it... u get this awesome new phone with 2.1 android and will never know whether u will make use of its hardware to its fullest cause you have to wait on ur manufacturer to release updates when 2.3 is pretty much available??
Apps aside, I think being able to upgrade my phone is still right up there in my list so yeah I'd consider buying nokie with wp7