Nokia has quashed rumours that it plans to return to the mobile phone business, which it dominated for many years. In a brief statement issued Sunday, the Finnish firm – now mainly a networks provider – says it "has no plans to manufacture or sell consumer handsets".
Media reports last week said that Nokia was planning to design phones to be manufactured in China under license. According to Nokia, "these reports are false, and include comments incorrectly attributed to a Nokia Networks executive."
When Nokia sold its loss-making handset business to Microsoft in the autumn of 2013, it promised not to re-enter the phone market before 2016. Nokia has however licensed its name for the N1 tablet, manufactured by the Taiwanese firm Foxconn.
Bolstering networks, shedding maps?
Last week Nokia announced the purchase of French networks rival Alcatel-Lucent, likely making it the world's second-largest player in the sector. Meanwhile there has been widespread speculation that it plans to sell off its HERE mapping service.
In a separate development, the US-based Computerworld reports on Monday that Microsoft may take a massive write-off of its Nokia acquisition, perhaps as early as July, and that its phone business is ”in trouble”.