Nokia to consider Android?

Stephan Elop, Nokia’s chief executive since September, is set to unveil his strategy in two weeks’ time, and it would seem that the company is ready to make a radical switch. Android maybe?

During a telephone call with analysts, Elop said that Nokia “must build, catalyze or join a competitive ecosystem”. Coming in a moment when Nokia has serious problems keeping up with Apple and phones running Android, this could only mean that the possibility of joining the Android revolution is as real as can be for the company.

We’re talking about a company which has been doing increasingly worse in the American market (it has been even selected in a list of the most hated companies), where Android and Apple are currently looking very good.

Most of all, Nokia has been constantly holding on to Symbian, an aging operating system which, even if it has been revamped for touchscreen, is considered by many to be way past its prime.

The problem for Nokia (and the thing that makes this choice quite a difficult one) is that Android phones are very similar while Nokia phones always had a certain identity. Could they risk giving that up in order to hope for a better (and “Android-greener”) future? I think they should give it a try…