Nokia says NO to Android smartphone

by Stevie Smith - Jul 6 2009, 16:45

With multiple Android phones already on the market, handset manufacturer HTC is clearly flying the flag for the Google-backed mobile operating system. And, if today’s leaked images are anything to go by, then so does Sony Ericsson. However, contrary to current reports, Android’s popularity has not yet attracted mobile phone giant Nokia.

More pointedly, Espoo-based Nokia Corporation, the world’s largest mobile phone maker, has today countered mounting speculation by insisting that it is not developing a new handset specifically designed to carry the Open Handset Alliance’s open-source Android platform.

Initial whispers regarding the mythical new handset first emerged after unnamed “industry insiders” reportedly told UK news source Guardian.co.uk that Nokia had earmarked an Android smartphone for a September reveal during its Nokia World event in Germany.

In answer to that rumour, an official spokesman for the Finnish mobile phone titan issued the following statement of denial:

“There is absolutely no truth to this story whatsoever. It is a well known fact that Symbian is our platform of choice for smartphones.”

According to performance figures published at the tail end of 2008, the Symbian OS accounted for approximately 50 percent of the market, with Apple’s iPhone operating system following with around 17 percent, Research In Motion (BlackBerry) with 15 percent and Microsoft’s Windows Mobile with around 13 percent.

By comparison, Android -- while growing in popularity as more vendors embrace it -- is presently viewed as something of an also-ran alongside platforms such as the Palm OS.

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