Nokia's CEO Stephen Elop vetoed the idea of producing Android devices, believing the company wouldn't be able to suitably differentiate its Android products from that of other vendors. In 2010, its market share had declined to 28%, and in April 2012, Samsung Electronics (a prominent user of Android) ultimately overtook Nokia as the largest mobile phone vendor in the world. However, in recent years, its market share declined as a result of the growing use of touchscreen smartphones from other vendors, such as Apple's iPhone line and Android-based products.
1.2 Acquisition of Nokia's mobile phone businessįrom 1998 to 2012, Nokia was the largest vendor of mobile phones in the world, which included early smartphones built on its Symbian platform.1.1 Partnership between Microsoft and Nokia.The existing devices would receive bug fixes and security updates only, ending for the latest devices in December 2019.
In October 2017, Microsoft's corporate vice president, Joe Belfiore, confirmed that Microsoft would no longer sell or manufacture new Windows 10 Mobile devices. Sales decreased sharply after the introduction of Windows 10 in 2015 and Microsoft briefly stopped selling Lumia devices from the Microsoft Store at the end of 2016 -by which time sales were estimated to have dropped below one million units -although availability was restored at the beginning of 2017. The most recent Lumia smartphone, the Lumia 650, was announced by Microsoft on 15 February 2016. In October 2015, Microsoft announced the first Lumia devices running on Windows 10 Mobile, the Lumia 950, Lumia 950 XL and Lumia 550. In November 2014, Microsoft announced the first Microsoft (non-Nokia) branded Lumia device, the Lumia 535. As part of the transition, Microsoft continued to use the Nokia brand on Lumia devices until October 2014, when it began to officially phase out the Nokia name in its promotion and production of smartphones in favor of Microsoft branding. As a result, the Lumia line's maintenance was transferred to Microsoft Mobile. On 3 September 2013, Microsoft announced its purchase of Nokia's mobile device business, with the deal closing on 25 April 2014. The Lumia name is derived from the partitive plural form of the Finnish word lumi, meaning "snow". Introduced in November 2011, the line was the result of a long-term partnership between Nokia and Microsoft-as such, Lumia smartphones run on Microsoft software, the Windows Phone operating system and later the newer Windows 10 Mobile. Microsoft Lumia (previously the Nokia Lumia Series) is a discontinued line of mobile devices that was originally designed and marketed by Nokia and later by Microsoft Mobile. Microsoft Lumia at the Wayback Machine (archived January 31, 2019) From left to right, the Lumia 1320, the Lumia 535, and the Lumia 530. Microsoft Lumia logo (Top) and various Nokia and Microsoft branded Lumia devices (Bottom).