After weeks of rumors and speculation that culminated in an apparent confirmation by a spokesperson during Mobile World Congress, Nokia has officially denied rumors that it would return to manufacturing its own phones under its own brand shortly after its non-compete agreement with Microsoft expires sometime in 2016, in a message posted on its website earlier today. The non-compete agreement was the result of the terms placed on the Finnish conglomerate as a result of the Devices unit sale to Microsoft in 2014.
Nokia as a company is currently reinventing itself as a company focused on wireless networking infrastructure with the recent announcement to purchase and merge chief competitor Alcatel-Lucent’s networking hardware division with its own revitalized Nokia Networks, a venture that at one time was thought to be on the verge of collapse when it was known as Nokia-Siemens Networks, before being turned around with an outright purchase and becoming one of the most profitable arms of Nokia following the dramatic decline of its Devices division.
However, the company has been busy licensing the Nokia name to third-parties and has not ruled out continuing such licensing for new devices in the future that are manufactured by others, such as the Foxconn-manufactured Nokia N1 Android tablet, currently exclusive to the Chinese market.
