The platform inherits UI similarities mostly from MeeGo "Harmattan", and replaced Series 40 on Nokia's low-end devices.

It was the successor to the Meltemi project which Nokia was developing as a Linux platform to replace Series 40, but was cancelled in July 2012.

[8] In a company memo released in July 2014, Microsoft announced that as part of cutbacks, they would cease all development of the Asha, Series 40, and X ranges, in favor of solely producing and encouraging the use of Lumia Windows Phone products.

The authors further explain that Meltemi originated as a research project in 2010 under then-CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo; that "Clipper" was to be a device sibling to the Nokia Lumia 610; that a tablet device for developing markets was planned; and that it was part of the company's "Next Billion" programme, much like what the Asha platform would become.

In addition in June 2012 it was announced that a Nokia R&D centre in Ulm, Germany, where apparently much development took place, would close down in cuts.

The book states that the main reason of Meltemi's cancellation was that the costs of bringing it to market would have hit the company's cash assets too hard, at a time when they were already financially struggling.