Nokia’s CEO has told Android partners they should be wary of the Google deal to buy Motorola Mobility and said the move reinforces his firm’s decision back in February to go with Microsoft’s Windows Phone operating system instead.
“If I happened to be someone who was an Android manufacturer or an operator, or anyone with a stake in that environment, I would be picking up my phone and calling certain executives at Google and say ‘I see signs of danger ahead,'” Elop said in a speech at a seminar in Finnish capital, Helsinki.
Thus far, Android partners like Samsung, HTC, Sony Ericsson and LG have publicly rallied around Google’s $12.5 billion move to buy Motorola Mobility, calling it a welcome move to use the firm’s patents to defend the embattled Android operating system.
Whether the initial acceptance of the move will turn to concern over coming weeks and months, however, remains to be seen based on what Google plans to do with Motorola’s operations and handset business unit. If the firm chooses to embrace Motorola Mobility’s hardware, other Android partners may feel slighted and put at an unfair disadvantage. This could cause some to look towards other operating systems.
“The very first reaction I had was very clearly the importance of the third ecosystem and the importance of the partnership that we announced on February 11, it is more clear than ever before,” Elop told his Helsinki audience.
