Nokia On Android: Like "Peeing In Your Pants For Warmth"

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Nokia is a great hardware company, but as many of our readers know, their Symbian software leaves something lacking. More than one person have suggested Nokia should switch to Android, Google’s popular open-source operating system that’s been adapted by a ton of mobile manufacturers. Well, Anssi Vanjoki, Nokia’s (outgoing) smartphone chief says that’s like (and I quote) Finnish boys who “pee in their pants” in winter for warmth. What is going on in Finland?

Vanjoki believes that Android is a short-term solution to Nokia’s software problems. They’re making other in-roads, though. They’ve got MeeGo in the cooker with Intel, and Symbian^3 looks to be a drastic improvement over earlier versions, and Vanjoki himself has vowed to have greater quality assurance on the Nokia N8 than previous Nokia smartphones.

Nokia’s position on Android is nothing new. Many analysts (and probably manufacturers, too) believe that if they all adapt Android, then Android phones become economic commodities – where there is high-demand for them but tons of indiffent suppliers (think fruit, do you care who grows your fruit?).

This is why we’ve seen Samsung meddle with their homegrown Bada OS, while still supporting Android and Windows Phone 7. This “Android phone as a commodity” problem could be even made worse by the slew of ultra-cheap Android phones we should see next year. This year at the CTIA trade show, several mobile hardware manufacturers (Texas Instruments, STEricsson) showed off SoC platforms for sub-$100 Android phones, and that’s pre-phone subsidy.

Still, Android is the closest a phone manufacturer can get to iOS. It’s free, and there’s a ton of consumer demand for those phones (see the waiting lists for the EVO 4G and Droid X). While Nokia sticks it out with Symbian^3, Motorola and HTC will be selling lots of their Android phones.