It was rumoured in April that Nokia was planning a return to the mobile business (Rumor: Nokia Getting Back into the Phone Business?). Now the company says that it will outsource the manufacturing of any new devices and that the phones are unlikely to be ready until the end of 2016.
A spokesman for the company was quoted as saying that Nokia would work through a partner for the manufacturing sales, marketing and consumer support of its mobile phones, leaving the company free to focus on the design and technology of the devices. Under the terms of Nokia’s agreement with Microsoft, the company is prevented from producing a new mobile device until the final quarter of 2016, at the earliest.
