Nokia ‘Hiring’ Android Software Engineers Ahead Of Smartphone Return

Nokia is reportedly advertising “dozens” of positions, including Android software engineers, as it prepares to return to the smartphone market where it made its name.

According to Reuters, the Finnish manufacturer is hiring software experts and sales partners so it can hit the ground running in late 2016, when a no compete clause included in the terms of the sale of its handset division to Microsoft expires.

Nokia is now predominantly a telecom equipment manufacturer, with the company in the process of acquiring Alcatel-Lucent for £11.2 billion and selling HERE Maps to a consortium of German carmakers for £2 billion.

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Nokia smartphones

However CEO Rajeev Suri confirmed last month that Nokia was planning to design smartphones and license them, along with its brand, to third party manufacturers. The idea is that Nokia’s design experience, vast patent library and famous name will make it attractive to smartphone buyers and partners,

The 600-strong Nokia Technologies division will be responsible for the design process and although the company won’t generate the same revenues it would if it was building the devices itself, it will be sheltered from many of the risks of direct manufacturing.

Such a model was employed with the Nokia N1 tablet, built by Foxconn. Nokia Technologies’ most recent product is Ozo, a VR camera designed for the film industry.

The company has posted strong quarterly results ahead of both its pending transactions, with revenues rising by nine percent year-on-year to €3.2 billion (£2.24bn) and operating profits jumping by 51 percent from €346 million (£242m) to €521 million (£365m). Networking provided the vast majority of income, but Nokia Technologies revenues were boosted by patent licensing agreements.

This is in stark contrast to Microsoft, which has written off £4.9 billion worth of assets related to the acquisition of Nokia’s handset division – more than the actual transaction.

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