Nokia has confirmed that recent reports that they would be producing consumer handsets from a Research and Development facility in China were in fact incorrectly attributed to them and false. They have also reiterated that they currently have no plans to manufacture or sell consumer handsets.
While Nokia may have denied the content in the Chinese news story, there are other reports that claim the company is still planning to return to the smartphone market sometime in 2016. Nokia sold its phone business to Microsoft last year, but just months after that it launched a new brand-licensed tablet computer, produced under license by Taiwan’s Foxconn, with an intention to follow up with more devices. Under the deal Microsoft has the rights to use the Nokia brand until 2016.
Nokia this month announced a takeover of France’s Alcatel-Lucent, a bid to boost its mainstay network equipment business, and also said it could hive off its map business, which has reportedly drawn interest from carmakers as well as Facebook and online taxi service Uber.
