It is hard to believe that we will no more see a Nokia branded mobile phone and the rumors are also saying something like that. Did I mean a comeback? Yes, may be! “I think you can expect our brand will return to the consumer world,” Nokia’s chief executive Rajeev Suri said, when asked about rumors on re-entering the handset market.
Earlier this year, Nokia has sold its former flagship mobile phones business to Microsoft for more than $7 billion. Microsoft this week dropped the Nokia name on its latest Lumia 535 smartphone. To keep the Nokia brand name alive among electronic devices, the strategy is a bit different this time. According to Suri, the company might license the brand name to other companies instead of starting up a new handset business on its own.
He said, “We see brand licensing as an opportunity … But I would say it is more of a long-term opportunity.” This means that the other electronic device makers might pay Nokia to use its brand on their products. The deal will not be restricted to mobile phones, but a range of electronic devices. “This is not a sentimentality thing,” Suri said. Another company executive gave the example of Porsche Design that Nokia might consider.