NEW DELHI: Nokia CEO Rajeev Suri revealed that his company is looking to find “suitable partners” to help with the effort. Suri’s comments aren’t all that surprising, given that rumors about Nokia’s mobile ambitions have been swirling for months. In April, Re/code reported that the firm was eyeing a return to the space, but does not want to recreate the division it sold to Microsoft. The idea is that Nokia will handle the design but let partners deal with manufacturing, sales, and distribution. Based on Suri’s recent comments, it seems that is indeed the plan.
“Microsoft manufactures mobile phones, we would only design and make the brand name,” Suri said, according to a translated version of the Manager Magazin report.
But don’t expect to see anything in the coming months. The Microsoft deal bars Nokia from selling phones until the end of 2015, and from licensing until Q3 2016.
Meanwhile, Microsoft’s devices division got a shake-up this week. As part of an effort to “drive engineering alignment,” former Nokia CEO Stephen Elop is leaving the company and Executive Vice President Terry Myerson will take full control of devices.
