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Nokia, Microsoft, Android - what the?

It is now old news that Microsoft is in the throes of buying Nokia.

Nokia is one of the few major mobile manufacturers who has adopted Microsoft's Windows 8 operating system for its phones so the acquisition kind of made sense as a strategy for playing catch-up on the part of Microsoft.

But now a strange twist has emerged...

Nokia is embracing Android and has released three new phones at competitive price-points which effectively kick Windows to the curb.

What on earth is going on?

It's worth noting that the Microsoft/Nokia deal isn't yet ratified so does the move to Android pose a threat to that purchase?

Of course if Microsoft wasn't in the picture, it would be a strategically smart move for Nokia to roll out Android-based handsets -- since this and iOS are the two only games left in town. By using Android, Nokia will have less trouble convincing users of other Android-based phones to switch to their offerings.

Although Microsoft has stated that it doesn't see Nokia's latest move as being a deal-breaker, it's also obvious that they're not 100% pleased with the introduction of Android.

If Nokia's new phones gain any significant market-share, Microsoft will then be in a rather unenviable position when it completes the Nokia takeover...

Do they ditch the Android product line and thus lose some of their already reduced share of the market?

Or do they stick with Android and effectively admit that for far too many people, it is a much more attractive option to Windows?

This looks like a lose-lose situation for the boys from Redmond.

Owch!

For its part, Nokia is claiming that the Android systems will always be their "entry-level" offerings which are designed to capture new customers and get them on the brand-loyalty wagon -- for later movement to more up-market options such as the Nokia Lumina.

I fear however, that it will be hard to sell a switch from Android to some other OS and I don't think the Nokia brand has enough cache to achieve that. If folk want something "better" than a Nokia entry-level phone they'll almost certainly be opting for another Android system -- the Samsung Galaxy perhaps. Especially when it has been disclosed that the Lumina sends data to Microsoft, thus breaching a user's privacy.

But let's not forget the Chinese -- even if only for their curse "may you live in interesting times".

The mobile marketplace sure is "interesting" right now :-)

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