Google CEO: we tried to convince Nokia to go Android

[Emil]

Google CEO Eric Schmidt confirmed at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona that his company held extensive talks with Nokia about replacing Symbian with Android. The company tried very hard to convince Nokia to pick Android as its future platform over Windows Phone 7.

"We would have loved if they had chosen Android. They chose the other guys," Schmidt said his keynote speech. "We had confidential negotiations with Nokia that were very extensive," he later told reporters during a roundtable discussion. "I hope at some time in the future they will be willing to choose Android again." Something very groundbreaking would have to happen at the Finnish company for that to occur.

As we already know, Nokia ended up switching to Windows Phone as its primary smartphone platform. As a result, thousands of employees will lose their jobs, and at least some Nokia shareholders are offering a Plan B.

All Things Digital has a run down of the keynote if you want to know what else Schmidt said. Larry Page will be replacing Eric Schmidt as Google's CEO on April 4, 2011.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/42424-google-ceo-we-tried-to-convince-nokia-to-go-android.html

 

[lipe123]

So uhm everyone is focusing on the fact that loads of jobs will be lost because of the disbanding of the symbian dev team right?
If they went to android those employees would have been fired anyways, so whats the difference?
Even if Nokia does nothing their symbian OS is so far behind the whole smartphone division will fail regardless. They are between a rock and a hard place, there is no easy way out.

Android already has samsung/HTC/motorolla doing their OS where windows phone has a very small market exposure and frankly I find windows phone to be a bit sucky.
Maybe the nokia move would be a good thing for MS to get their mobile OS working well enough to copete with the likes of android.

 

[princeton]

lipe123 said:
So uhm everyone is focusing on the fact that loads of jobs will be lost because of the disbanding of the symbian dev team right?
If they went to android those employees would have been fired anyways, so whats the difference?
Even if Nokia does nothing their symbian OS is so far behind the whole smartphone division will fail regardless. They are between a rock and a hard place, there is no easy way out.

Android already has samsung/HTC/motorolla doing their OS where windows phone has a very small market exposure and frankly I find windows phone to be a bit sucky.
Maybe the nokia move would be a good thing for MS to get their mobile OS working well enough to copete with the likes of android.

WP7 can compete with android fine. Because android is being slowed by all the manufacturers and carriers slapping on bloatware and custom UIs which prevents consistent updates. I have an HD7, a Nexus S and a Galaxy S i9000. I agree the nexus S is my best but the HD7 beats the i9000 hands down.

 

[yRaz]

TO GOOGLE: take the bloatware the comes preinstalled on your phones off. Microsoft has said that carriers aren't aloud to put anything on WP7 phones. THAT is the main appeal to me of WP7, no bloatware.

 

[lipe123]

The part about android that I like is that manufacturers are allowed to change it to their liking, its not google's fault if its full of bloatware.

I dislike mobile OS'es like WP7 where there is absolutely no room for change, honestly you might as well go buy a iPhone then.

 

[yRaz]

lipe123 said:

honestly you might as well go buy a iPhone then.

See, that's the beauty of the WP7. You get all the advantages of an iPhone without the smugness and arrogance that comes with it. Aside from the app store, I find that WP7 is much better than iOS. I think the GUI doesn't look as toyish as an iphone or android. I guess this is why we have choices.

 

[Archean]

I agree the nexus S is my best but the HD7 beats the i9000 hands down.

If they slap an SAMOLED Plus screen on the set, and roll it out as HD7II, I'll buy it

I find that WP7 is much better than iOS. I think the GUI doesn't look as toyish as an iphone or android.

Android is worst offender here, very much crappy UI and I dont like that 'elastic' effect they put on SGS. Aesthetically and in general WP7's interface feels much better, but to be honest MS needs to move much faster with regard to their upgrade cycle and bring it on part with others.

 

[yRaz]

Archean said:

I agree the nexus S is my best but the HD7 beats the i9000 hands down.

If they slap an SAMOLED Plus screen on the set, and roll it out as HD7II, I'll buy it

I find that WP7 is much better than iOS. I think the GUI doesn't look as toyish as an iphone or android.

Android is worst offender here, very much crappy UI and I dont like that 'elastic' effect they put on SGS. Aesthetically and in general WP7's interface feels much better, but to be honest MS needs to move much faster with regard to their upgrade cycle and bring it on part with others.

Their are 2 things that bother me about WP7. No support for turning it on it's side(screen doesn't rotate when tilted) and you can't edit the icons on the home screen. I find myself using the mobile version of office so much that I feel I don't need to bring my laptop with me anymore. I wish I could sync my documents via USB instead of email, but I'm sure these updates are coming.

 

[Jibberish18]

yRaz said:
TO GOOGLE: take the bloatware the comes preinstalled on your phones off. Microsoft has said that carriers aren't aloud to put anything on WP7 phones. THAT is the main appeal to me of WP7, no bloatware.

Actually I thought I remember reading that they COULD put it on as long as the user had the options to COMPLETELY take it off. They may have changed this as I read this months back.

 

[yRaz]

Jibberish18 said:

yRaz said:
TO GOOGLE: take the bloatware the comes preinstalled on your phones off. Microsoft has said that carriers aren't aloud to put anything on WP7 phones. THAT is the main appeal to me of WP7, no bloatware.

Actually I thought I remember reading that they COULD put it on as long as the user had the options to COMPLETELY take it off. They may have changed this as I read this months back.

That must have been fubar, at the start they said they would take an iOS approach to apps. They were advertising that as one of the selling points. WP7 has strict standards that are worth looking into if you are in the market for a smartphone.

 

[Edito]

I used to like windows mobile (6.5 was the last i used) but since i bought the HTC Desire i fell in love with Android the it works the beauty of it UI the market the freedom i really like it and im planning to use Android for life...

 

[yukka]

yRaz said:

Their are 2 things that bother me about WP7. No support for turning it on it's side(screen doesn't rotate when tilted) and you can't edit the icons on the home screen. I find myself using the mobile version of office so much that I feel I don't need to bring my laptop with me anymore. I wish I could sync my documents via USB instead of email, but I'm sure these updates are coming.

I am confused. I have a HD7 and you can edit the icons on the home screen (by that I mean move them around, add different ones etc). It also has support for being turned on its side - the screen rotates very quickly.

 

[yRaz]

I am confused. I have a HD7 and you can edit the icons on the home screen (by that I mean move them around, add different ones etc). It also has support for being turned on its side - the screen rotates very quickly.

add and remove apps on the homescreen? I don't want the twitter or facebook app and I can't seem to remove it. And I'm talking about flipping through menus, not the browser or for texting. I haven't even tried to update my quantum, been too busy playing with it.

EDIT: I was talking about it turning horizontal when turned on it's side. It only seem to do that in the browser and while texting

 

[princeton]

TO GOOGLE: take the bloatware the comes preinstalled on your phones off. Microsoft has said that carriers aren't aloud to put anything on WP7 phones. THAT is the main appeal to me of WP7, no bloatware.

Google doesn't install bloatware. The stupid *** carriers and manufacturers do. I'm luvin' my Nexus S.

I used to like windows mobile (6.5 was the last i used) but since i bought the HTC Desire i fell in love with Android the it works the beauty of it UI the market the freedom i really like it and im planning to use Android for life...

The funny part is you've never seen the android UI on your phone. Are you unaware that HTC sense is a custom UI?

add and remove apps on the homescreen? I don't want the twitter or facebook app and I can't seem to remove it. And I'm talking about flipping through menus, not the browser or for texting. I haven't even tried to update my quantum, been too busy playing with it.

EDIT: I was talking about it turning horizontal when turned on it's side. It only seem to do that in the browser and while texting

I thought removing apps ect from the home screen was part of the WP7 framework.

Actually I thought I remember reading that they COULD put it on as long as the user had the options to COMPLETELY take it off. They may have changed this as I read this months back.

No it's still the same AFAIK.

 

[princeton]

If they slap an SAMOLED Plus screen on the set, and roll it out as HD7II, I'll buy it



Android is worst offender here, very much crappy UI and I dont like that 'elastic' effect they put on SGS. Aesthetically and in general WP7's interface feels much better, but to be honest MS needs to move much faster with regard to their upgrade cycle and bring it on part with others.

Can I see pics of your Nexus one or Nexus S? I'm doubting you're using the stock android UI, because nobody has ported stock gingerbread to another phone.

 

[Archean]

@princeton
Agreed, I should have said 'custom crappy UI' samsung put on SGS. Google's simple 'get things done' approach on what I call 'pure' Android seems much better than what I 'had' seen on all the custom UI's being put on android devices.

 

[princeton]

@princeton
Agreed, I should have said 'custom crappy UI' samsung put on SGS. Google's simple 'get things done' approach on what I call 'pure' Android seems much better than what I 'had' seen on all the custom UI's being put on android devices.

Actually, I do admit HTC did an ok job of skinning android. And I guess it was an ok choice because when they started(1.6) the stock UI was god awful. But now that we have a good stock UI these manufacturers need to call it quits.