In September, 2013, to much fanfare* Microsoft and NOKIA announced that Microsoft Corporation and Nokia Corporation Boards of Directors for both companies have decided to enter into a transaction whereby Microsoft will purchase substantially all of Nokia’s Devices & Services business, license Nokia’s patents, and license and use Nokia’s mapping services.

Nobody (outside of Microsoft and NOKIA, presumably) thought this meant that Microsoft would start selling ANDROID cellphones to capture Windows phone customers.......

...from: http://www.engadget.com/2014/02/24/nokia-x-elop/

Elop: Nokia X will bring more consumers to Windows Phonehttp://www.engadget.com/2014/02/24/nokia-x-elop/

BY BRAD MOLENhttp://www.engadget.com/about/editors/brad-molen @PHONEWISDOMhttp://twitter.com/phonewisdom 5 HOURS AGO

[cid:9D17B5FE-DAA0-434B-BF83-F11AB5F43E5A]http://www.engadget.com/2014/02/24/nokia-x-elop/

After Nokia's big announcement of the brand-new X serieshttp://www.engadget.com/2014/02/24/nokia-announces-the-x-its-first-android-phone/ [of Android cellphones], we had a chance to sit down with Stephen Elop, the executive VP of Devices for the company. Naturally, the company's decision to crank out an Android device was a matter of great curiosity for us. Most importantly: Did Microsoft agree to this from the beginning, or did Nokia's acquirer go into this idea begrudgingly? According to Elop, it's the former. "Microsoft bought the Mobile Devices division," Elop told us, "so they knew what they were doing." Given the company's focus on a tile-based experience and its emphasis on the Microsoft Cloud, it's beginning to make a lot of sense. Elop went on to state that the X is primarily a stepping stone (a "gateway phone," if you will) for a largely untouched market segment -- emerging markets and developing countries -- to get acclimatized to Microsoft's suite of services and familiar Live Tiles interface. It's an interesting strategy, no doubt, and we're excited to see if it pays off in the long run -- people won't be rushing to a Windows Phone weeks after buying an XL, but it sounds like the idea is to plant a seed within consumers, as well as a reliance on services like Skype, Outlook and OneDrive.

* - http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2014-02-16/news/47359495_1_saty...

Does the Nokia deal still make sense for Microsoft? New York Times Feb 16, 2014, 02.55AM IST

By James B Stewart

When Microsoft announced in September that it was buying Nokia's struggling handset business and

would meld its Windows operating system with the devices, it offered two major reasons for the $7.2 billion deal:

- Apple and Google were combining their software and hardware.

- The deal would ensure the survival of Microsoft's Windows operating system in a mobile universe.