With today"s announcement that Nokia is launching a family of Nokia X smartphones that use Android as its OS, many media outlets, including Neowin, have speculated how Microsoft feels about this development. As it turns out, an official blog post from that company claims Microsoft is "pleased" with at least part of Nokia"s strategy.
The blog post, written by Microsoft"s Corporate Vice President of Communications Frank X. Shaw, has him stating:
... we’re pleased to see Microsoft services like Skype, OneDrive and Outlook.com being introduced on these devices. This provides the opportunity to bring millions of people, particularly in growth markets, into the Microsoft family.
Shaw also points out that the deal for Microsoft to acquire Nokia"s Devices and Services division has still not closed and until that happens, both companies are operating separately. Shaw said the deal is still expected to become official by the end of the first quarter of 2014. Finally, Shaw repeats what we expected Microsoft to say at this point: ".... our primary smartphone strategy remains Windows Phone, and our core device platform for developers is the Windows platform."
So while Microsoft seems to be supportive of Nokia"s efforts to launch an Android phone with connections to Microsoft services, it also sounds like this won"t be the start of an ongoing trend.
Source: Microsoft | Image via Nokia