[Joeri]

The only way it would make sense is to use an android fork without app store as a way of making cheap feature phones. They could then upsell people to windows phone and create a market perception that android is inferior.

It doesn't make sense however, as the hardware needed to run android well outstrips that needed to run windows phone well. It would make more sense to make a stripped down windows phone. So, i see no way this plan survives the acquisition.

[vetinari]

> the hardware needed to run android well outstrips that needed to run windows phone well

It is a myth. The worst (and only) SoC where WP8 runs is the Snapdragon Krait. On this configuration, Android runs very well (see also Nexus 4 or Nexus 7 2013).

Added to that, WP8 phones have lower-resolution displays (Lumia 520: 800x480, Moto G: 1280x720; Lumia 1020: 1280x720, Galaxy S4: 1920x1080), which drives down the needed RAM for your framebuffer, it's backing stores, textures and assests.

[sgloutnikov]

Not much point to that either, and I agree it doesn't make sense. Removing the Play Store, there already is Nokia Asha-- which runs very smooth on low-end devices.