Nokia reportedly plans to go back to smartphones market in 2016 and is “quietly plotting a return” to the market. The Finnish smartphone maker has been prohibited from marketing smartphones till next year as a part of its deal with Microsoft.
According to reports, the Finnish company is planning to make a comeback in the smartphone market with a business model similar to what it used to launch the Nokia N1 tablet. The company has launched the N1 tablet with a brand-licensing agreement with Foxconn that made the established Chinese OEM responsible for manufacturing, distribution, and sales of the N1 tablet. According to Re/code, Nokia is looking at a similar brand licensing agreement to revive its smartphone business. Read: Nokia N1 sold out in China in 4 minutes
Microsoft's acquisition of Nokia's Devices and Services business stated that the Finnish company could not use its brand on smartphones till Q4 2016, and on feature phones for another 10 years. So the company could wait till 2016 end to avoid any legal battle. After the Microsoft deal, Nokia was split into three companies – Nokia Networks, Here Maps and Nokia Technologies. Reportedly, Nokia Technologies is in charge of managing Nokia’s large portfolio of over 10,000 patents and is driving back the move back into smartphones.
At the time of the launch of the N1 Tablet, President of Nokia's technologies business Ramzi Haidamus had confirmed, "We will be looking at going into the cell phone licensing business post-Microsoft rights." List of All Nokia Mobile Phones
Earlier this year, a new Nokia 1100 smartphone was spotted on the Geek bench index. The leaked specifications reveal a budget device with 720p display resolution, a quad core Mediatek 1.3 GHz processor with 512 MB of RAM and Android 5.0 OS. Other specifications of the device were not revealed then. Read: Nokia 1100 running Android 5.0 spotted
Source: Re/Code