We'll never know how what would have become of Nokia if they had gone the Android way. In fact, they were toying around with it before Microsoft decided to buy them up for 7 billion.

Android-powered Lumia phones actually existed inside Nokia. That would have changed the game a lot for the handset maker.

The NY Times reports that a "team within Nokia had Android up and running on the company’s Lumia handsets" long before Microsoft and Nokia decided to get hitched. The project was confidential but Microsoft was said to be aware of Nokia's Android project.

[NY Times]