So elop had nothing to do with choosing WP? Why did MS reward him after it acquired Nokia?
Nokia had brand equity in Europe so for a time, the Nokia Lumias were doing okay in some countries like Italy, actually outselling iPhone. Was that because of WP or the Nokia name?
Given all the reboots of WP, maybe Nokia Android phones may have had a chance to build up some momentum against Samsung Galaxy in some markets.
Nope on Elop being the driving force behind Nokia going with WP. Likely kept Elop on because he was intimately familiar with the workings of the Nokia phone business as well as having previously been with Microsoft.
If anything, it's entirely likely there was communication between Microsoft and Nokia about the possibility of them moving to the Windows Phone platform prior to Elop being hired as the CEO.
What is extremely curious is why Finland rewarded Elop for everything that happened. Perhaps he facilitated the sale of Nokia's phone division to Microsoft on very favorable terms for Nokia. Something Nokia wanted (out of the handset business) and that also benefitted them extraordinarily well when it comes to public perception (Microsoft took the fall for layoffs instead of Nokia which is what would have happened otherwise). And the Finnish government at the time perhaps thought that was the best way to keep all those Finnish workers employed. Except even Microsoft couldn't save it.
Until someone on their Board of Directors decides to shed light on everything, we'll never really know.
As for the Nokia brand pushing sales. Yes, that was definitely the case. Hence why Microsoft were willing to go into a business partnership with Nokia on very favorable terms for Nokia. The question is, would an Andoid version of Nokia phones in a country like say, Italy, have done significantly better than the Windows Phone version? And if it had would it have had the momentum required to challenge even a lower tier non-Chinese handset maker like say, HTC? Even assuming it matched HTC, it's unlikely Nokia would have wanted to keep the handset division around for much longer. Manufacturing costs for them is higher than it was for the Korean, Taiwanese and especially Chinese handset makers, especially when you consider they would likely want to keep their reputation for quality built handsets.
The possibility was certainly there for them to succeed somewhat. But the possibility was also there for them to succeed with Windows Phone. They perhaps took the riskier gamble on Windows Phone. But if it had worked the payoff would have been far larger than if they had gone with Android. They would have been the de facto premium handset maker for Windows Phone similar to Samsung for Android. Everyone else would have been competing against them, similar to Samsung with Android.
The gamble didn't pay off, but it was unlikely to have paid off even if they'd gone with Android instead.
Regards,
SB