November saw the announcement that many industry watchers had been waiting for, the return of the Nokia name on a smartphone. The resurrection of the former telecoms giant will come through the licensing of the brand to Finnish company HMD Global, who announced that the first Android-powered handsets would be launched in the first half of 2017.
No further details on the upcoming product line have been announced, although the presence of HMD at the annual Mobile World Congress event in February - a venue traditionally associated with smartphone launches and used by Nokia as such many times in the past - is seen as the most likely date for details to be announced.
As for retail availability I spoke to HMD's CEO just after the announcement, and I did ask about the launch dates.
But what does 'launch' actually mean? It's worth a final throw of the dice. "Launch means we'll launch the device to the public..." Nummela playfully smiles. But hold on. I also recognise an impish sense of humour, there's a bit more. "...and it is good practice to go on sale very soon after a launch."
The question now is what approach HMD will take with its Android devices. Nokia may have made its name with high-end smartphones and cutting-edge technology in the first decade of the 21st century, but its financial engine was always focused on the high-turnover handsets lower down the portfolio. Many of HMD's staff worked for Nokia, and it would not surprise me to see a similar two-handset approach with a high-end model that collects the glory while a lower-priced handset shifts in much higher numbers and delivers more value.
The latest leak backs up previous images of the chassis and external styling of the handset. With a reported name of 'Nokia P', Pocket-Lint covers the new details. The handset will reportedly sport a SnapDragon 835 chipset supported by 6 GB of RAM, which matches up with the predictions of many top-end handsets for 2017. It also names a 23 megapixel rear camera with Carl Zeiss lenses. Nokia had a long relationship with Carl Zeis and while HMD is a new company, the idea of Carl Zeiss returning alongside the Nokia brand has merit.
These specifications would certainly fit the bill of a high-end handset. If this is the only handset revealed at the start of 2017, that will be enough to satisfy those waiting for the Nokia name to return.
Given the volume of feature phone business that HMD inherited from Nokia and Microsoft, it knows the market is there for functional and fun handsets at a lower price. Like a Nordic sorcerer, many will be distracted by the high-end handsets and the leaking of the latest specifications. While that is going on, the real magic will be happening further down the portfolio.
Now read more from my interview with HMD CEO Arto Nummela...
