Nokia may have had Android plans before Microsoft acquisition
Microsoft significantly bolstered their mobile phone business when they purchased Nokia for a sum of €5.44 billion, yet that deal could have ended up going in a completely different direction. According to The New York Times, the folks at Nokia experimented with porting Android to their Lumia smartphones, just in case their deal with Microsoft fell apart.
When the two companies first signed a strategic partnership back in 2011, Nokia received the right to exit the agreement at the end of the year 2014. As a result, the Finnish company's software engineers had Android up and running on Lumia smartphones as a backup plan, a feat that wasn't "Herculean" according to developers involved in the project. This development was also before talks began with Microsoft, though they were aware of Nokia's experimentation.
While Microsoft may have planned on purchasing the company all along, the option of Android as an exit strategy likely played a large role and may have even given Nokia an advantage during negotiations. Unfortunately, with all that has been invested in the Windows Phone platform, we doubt we'll ever see an Android Nokia smartphone, forcing it to exist solely in the land of unfulfilled possibilities.