Nokia: We want to build new phones, but there is no rush

Like an NBA GM trying to clear cap space in advance of a great free agent crop, Nokia CEO Rajeev Suri has been trying to position Nokia for its return into the smartphone business. The terms of Microsoft's 2013 purchase of Nokia Devices and Services prevented the company from re-entering the intelligent handset business with its own brand until the calendar turned to 2016.

Waiting for the deadline to pass, Nokia sold its highly regarded HERE Maps to a trio of auto makers looking to use them to help them develop self-driving cars. The company bought networking hardware manufacturer Alcatel-Lucent. As a result, it became one of the leaders in 5G technology. And Nokia Technologies owns a vast patent library.

Nokia, for its part, isn't interested in rebuilding the same smartphone organization like the one it sold to Microsoft. Instead, Nokia wants to turn over manufacturing and marketing of intelligent handsets to a third party while Nokia contributes the design and brand. CEO Suri says that any new phone needs to feel like a Nokia model. "We don’t want to just put logos on somebody’s devices. It needs to feel like Nokia, what Nokia was known for," said the CEO.

While Suri originally hoped to have a partner in place at the end of last year, that hasn't happened. Yet, the CEO isn't concerned. "We’re not in a hurry," he said. "There doesn’t need to be a rush." The executive says that Nokia designed a ten-year plan back in 2014 designed to keep the company relevant. As to when we will see a new Nokia smartphone, that might not come until 2017.

source: Re/Code via Phonescoop