Thanks to the deal it made with Microsoft when it sold its handset division, Nokia is contractually obligated to stay out of the handset market until next year. While the company has expressed its desire to get back into the smartphone business once that time comes, Nokia has made it clear that it only intends to do so with the help of a partner. There are plenty of companies that would love to join forces with Nokia, but if recent rumors are to be believed, the Finnish company might be partnering with a Chinese smartphone maker that doesn’t have much of a presence here in the West: Huawei.
Yesterday, Nokia made the headlines after it said that the Finnish company was looking for a world class partner to re-enter the smartphone industry. Nokia had added that it believed a licensing deal was the ideal way to get back in this competitive industry. Now, it looks like we have a clue as to which company could be working with Nokia for the comeback. Earlier today, Meizu’s official Weibo account welcomed back Nokia. While this was suspicious enough, the account posted another teaser which probably hints at some kind of partnership with the company. The teaser highlights the date, 7.16 which is tomorrow with the words the long era of intelligent machines 1110 (Nokia 1110?) written just below the image. This could hint at some kind of co-operation between the two companies. Even if the company is partnering up with Meizu, it cannot develop and market its own smartphones until the end of 2016. The company can only start manufacturing phones under its name from next year. But Nokia is known to make solid phones, much like the 1110 feature phone. It was one of the best selling phones in the market till date, selling about 250 million units worldwide. So, according to the teaser, it looks like Meizu and Nokia partnership aims to create such a best selling product.
