Struggling with Apple & Samsung at one end and low-cost domestic players at the other end, handset maker Nokia has finally embraced the Android platform, by launching a new Nokia X software platform based on the Android open source project, although Microsoft is buying Nokia's phone business shortly. It also launched a new family of smartphones based on Nokia X platform along with two new feature phones and a couple of software announcements at the ongoing Mobile World Congress 2014 in Barcelona. (More on that here). Nokia X platform As stated earlier, Nokia X is a forked version of Android built on top of Android open source project (AOSP) version 4.1.2 (Jelly Bean), quite similar to what Amazon did with Fire OS. Therefore you will see Microsoft services along with signature Nokia experiences in a Nokia Asha-like interface instead of the traditional Google services. This also means there will be no Google Play, for which Nokia is providing its own app store along with support for multiple third party app stores. This is probably the only way Nokia can counter Google's dominance, although multiple app stores can turn out to be quite confusing to consumers. Besides this, Nokia also allows users to sideload Android apps to Nokia X devices. The company is also positioning Nokia X as a better monetization platform due to its operator billing tie-ups globally. Nokia claims to have billing agreements with more than 160 operators across more than 60 markets and offer a 70:30 revenue split (70% to developers with no additional operator specific charges). In India, Nokia has carrier billing…
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