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Nokia was experimenting with Android, as any serious business would. You have to explore every option, so that if upper management decides to go that way, they are ready. It's completely normal. Hell, they'll probably continue experimenting, even if it's just to see how Android compares to Windows on the same hardware in terms of speed.

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It may have even help leverage their negotiations with Microsoft.

That was my immediate thought. Even if they weren't planning on switching to Android in the short term Nokia could have made Microsoft's decision to buy a lot easier by hinting at the possibility.

It seems like Microsoft's decision to buy Nokia was pretty easy. If Nokia happened to experience a lot of success with Windows Phone, they'd have even more money to hedge their bets and not be dependent on MS. But if Nokia kept slipping and actually went under, MS would lose it's major Windows Phone hardware partner.

I mean, ever since Elop became CEO, the talk was "Microsoft just bought Nokia ... for nothing".

So what I'd be curious about, after all the lies and betrayals (QT, argh... grrr), did Nokia actually get any "real money" for jumping onto the failing MS Phone ship (edit: given the threat of an Android double-double cross or whatever)?

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