Rumor Mill: Nokia's 'Normandy' forked Android phone to cost $110

Nokia's (NYSE:NOK) rumored phone running a forked version of Google's (NASDAQ:GOOG) Android platform, codenamed "Normandy," will retail for around $110, according to a Vietnamese retail site.

The posting, first spotted by the blog WMPoweruser, calls the phone the Nokia X A110. The phone is listed as running Android 4.4.2 "Kit Kat," with a dual-core 1 GHz processor, 4 GB of internal storage and 512 MB of RAM.

According to a recent Wall Street Journal report, which cited unnamed sources familiar with the matter, the phone is expected to be introduced at the Mobile World Congress trade show later this month; Nokia has scheduled a press conference for Feb. 24 at the event. The report said the phone won't access some Google-developed features or Android apps from Google Play, and will instead come installed with digital services created by Nokia and Microsoft, including Here for mapping, MixRadio for streaming music and a Nokia application store.

Nokia for several months has been rumored to be developing an Android phone, and the company has repeatedly declined to comment on the rumors.

It's unclear exactly why Nokia would make an Android-based phone since its handset business is being acquired by Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) and Nokia uses Microsoft's Windows Phone as its smartphone platform. The thinking is that such a phone, with low-end specifications, could appeal to first-time smartphone buyers in emerging markets. Then Microsoft could hook them and get them to upgrade to Windows Phones. Previous reports have said project is designed to see how Nokia can push low-cost devices to the market with more fully-fledged smartphone apps, something Nokia's current low-cost line of Asha phones can't really accomplish.

However, Microsoft has gone after that part of the market before. Microsoft in 2012 introduced software that could run on phones with 256 MB of RAM. Nokia's best-selling Windows Phone device in 2013 was the low-end Lumia 520.

For more:
- see this WMPoweruser post
- see this CNET article

Related Articles:
Report: Nokia preps 'Normandy' Android phone for Mobile World Congress release
Microsoft's Nadella puts focus on mobile and cloud, but Nokia plans remain elusive
Microsoft: Nokia deal will help us understand, aid other Windows Phone OEMs
Nokia ships 8.2M Lumia smartphones in Q4, a decline from Q3
Report: Microsoft ponders free versions of Windows Phone, RT to counter Android
Reports: Nokia building smartphone with forked version of Android, codenamed 'Normandy'