On the same day that Microsoft has announced its sold off its Nokia Feature Phone business to Foxconn, Nokia has announced a new deal that will see its brand return to smartphones and tablets.
Nokia has signed a licensing deal with HMD Global Oy, which is a newly founded company in Finland and it looks like Foxconn will be the manufacturing partner for the company.
Nokia has announced plans that will see the Nokia brand return to the mobile phone and tablet markets on a global basis. Under a strategic agreement covering branding rights and intellectual property licensing, Nokia Technologies will grant HMD global Oy (HMD), a newly founded company based in Finland, an exclusive global license [1] to create Nokia-branded mobile phones and tablets for the next ten years. Under the agreement, Nokia Technologies will receive royalty payments from HMD for sales of Nokia-branded mobile products, covering both brand and intellectual property rights.
As also announced today by FIH Mobile Limited (FIH), a subsidiary of Hon Hai Precision Industries (trading as Foxconn Technology Group), the remainder of Microsoft’s feature phone business assets, including manufacturing, sales and distribution, would be acquired by FIH. HMD and Nokia Technologies have signed an agreement with FIH to establish a collaboration framework to support the building of a global business for Nokia-branded mobile phones and tablets. This agreement will give HMD full operational control of sales, marketing and distribution of Nokia-branded mobile phones and tablets, with exclusive access to the pre-eminent global sales and distribution network to be acquired from Microsoft by FIH, access to FIH’s world-leading device manufacturing, supply chain and engineering capabilities, and to its growing suite of proprietary mobile technologies and components.
We are expecting Nokia’s first Android smartphone to launch this year, we have already heard a number of rumors about the device over the last 12 months.
As soon as we get some more details on what new smartphones and tablets Nokia will be launching, we will let you guys know.
Source Nokia
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