Nokia has again affirmed its plans to bring Nokia-branded handsets back to the market eventually, but warned that things won't be as they were. Nokia sold its handset division to Microsoft in 2014. As part of the deal, Nokia signed a non-compete clause barring it from re-entering the handset market for a specific period of time. Moreover, Nokia sold all its phone-manufacturing plants and capabilities to Microsoft. It no longer has the capacity to build phones. "The right path back to mobile phones for Nokia is through a brand-licensing model," explained the company. "That means identifying a partner that can be responsible for all of the manufacturing, sales, marketing and customer support for a product. If and when we find a world-class partner who can take on those responsibilities, we would work closely with them to guide the design and technology differentiation, as we did with the Nokia N1 Android tablet. That's the only way the bar would be met for a mobile device we'd be proud to have bear the Nokia brand, and that people will love to buy." Nokia's non-compete clause with Microsoft doesn't expire until the fourth quarter of 2016.


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