Yahoo – AFP,
Rob Lever, 24 June 2014
CEO of Nokia Corporation Stephen Elop presents the new Nokia X at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, on February 24, 2014 (AFP Photo/Lluis Gene)
 |
CEO of
Nokia Corporation Stephen Elop presents the new Nokia X at the
Mobile World
Congress in Barcelona, on February 24, 2014 (AFP Photo/
Lluis Gene)
|
CEO of Nokia Corporation Stephen Elop presents the new Nokia X at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, on February 24, 2014 (AFP Photo/Lluis Gene)
Washington
(AFP) - Microsoft on Tuesday rolled out its first new Nokia smartphone since
acquiring the Finnish group's handset division -- using the Android operating
system from arch-rival Google.
Microsoft
said the Nokia X2, an updated version of a handset unveiled this year before
the takeover was completed, was "designed to introduce the 'next billion'
people to the mobile Internet and cloud services."
The device
will be sold worldwide as a dual-SIM phone at a price of $135 (99 euros),
Microsoft said in a statement.
While
Microsoft has been struggling to get a foothold in the smartphone market with
its Windows Phone operating system, the X2 "provides access to a world of
Android apps and popular Microsoft services," the statement said.
Even though
it uses the rival Android platform the X2 offers "a gateway to Microsoft
services," including the Skype messaging program and OneDrive cloud
storage.
The initial
Nokia X was unveiled at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona in February,
before Microsoft completed its takeover of Nokia's handset division in April.
The new
version cuts the price of a phone which has had success in some countries.
"The
Nokia X family is going from strength to strength, with the Nokia X smartphone
achieving top-selling status in Pakistan, Russia, Kenya and Nigeria, while
earning the third-best-selling smartphone spot in India,” said Timo Toikkanen,
head of mobile phones for the Microsoft Devices Group.
"The
Nokia X2 elevates the Nokia X experience with a stellar new design, ease of use
and new Microsoft experiences. We're proud to continue to bring smartphone
innovation to lower and lower price points."
With the
Nokia X unveiled in February, Android applications work, but users cannot
access Google's services, notably its applications store, Google Play.
Tuesday's
statement said users would have access to the Nokia Store as "the place
for finding the highest-quality Android apps" for the device.
Windows
Phone has managed to get only around 3.5 percent of the global smartphone
market, while Android has more than 80 percent, according to recent figures
from research firm IDC.
'As many
phones as possible
Roger Kay,
analyst with Endpoint Technologies, said the Android phone makes sense in view
of the fragile position of the Windows Phone platform.
"Google
has the dominant platform and Apple is number two, so there is a question about
whether there is room for a number three," Kay said.
He added
that the Nokia unit appears to be maintaining some independence after being
acquired by Microsoft and that "they want to sell as many phones as
possible."
"Microsoft
is hanging onto the phone business by its fingernails," he said. "One
bump and they could be gone. You still have a whole phone business in Nokia so
it makes sense to be on the dominant platform."
Microsoft
closed the deal in April with some adjustments from the announced price of
$7.52 billion (5.44 billion euros). The US company agreed to exclude factories
in India and South Korea.
Nokia was
the world leader in mobile phones until it was challenged by Apple's iPhone in
2007 and later Samsung.
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