Nokia plans to announce an Android-based smartphone at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona in two weeks, according to a Wall Street Journal report.
Why would Google care? Because the phone won’t support the Google Play app store and the apps in it that generate a percentage of profits for Google. Instead, the Nokia device will have Nokia’s Here maps installed along with Mix Radio and a Nokia app store.
Google hasn’t commented publicly on the prospect of a Nokia phone running on an Android core since rumours surfaced last year.
Android phones in this category are a growing problem for Google, according to some analysts.
Research firm ABI two weeks ago wrote a report asking, “Is Google losing control of the Android ecosystem?” It noted that Android smartphones running a forked version of Android made up 25% of the 221.5 million Android smartphones shipped in the fourth quarter of 2013. That was an increase from 22% in the previous quarter.
Phones by Xiaomi, Coolpad, Giomee and others in the Android Open Source Project use forked Android and hurt Google’s ability to monetise the Android ecostem, according to ABI. With a Nokia phone running an Android core but not supporting Google Play, Nokia would be joining the forked list. (Amazon also sells Kindle tablets running on a modified version of Android.)
Microsoft, which is buying Nokia’s handset business for $7.4, likely sees an Android smartphone as an inevitable step into emerging markets, where low-cost smartphones are needed to attract first-time buyers. That leaves the Windows Phone OS available for higher-priced Nokia-based Lumia phones, which offer greater functionality.
In recent weeks, Google was reportedly annoyed with Samsung’s announcement that new Pro series tablets would run Samsung’s Magazine UX interface. Google was concerned because it wants Samsung devices to remain closer to true-blue Android.
In the past two years, Google has been increasingly criticised for allowing too much Android fragmentation across the many Android vendors.
Unlike the planned Nokia phone, Samsung is certified with the Open Handset Alliance, along with ZTE, Lenovo and Alcatel Lucent, and all give users of their devices access to the Google Play store and its apps. If Google was upset over Samsung’s Magazine UX, it might be expected to be even more concerned with forked Android devices.
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