Yeah, this team is from Nokia Corporation the part Microsoft did not buy (essentially business dev, R&D, some creative and remnants of the N9 (Meego) team that did not leave for Jolla among others). So totally separate from Microsoft.
Yeah that would be awesome. I had an N9 and loved it. Incredible device in terms of design and OS. It was an absolute shame and a disaster that it fell to the way side for Windows Phone.
Nokia had made a massive mistake by neglecting Symbian for half a decade, but I think going with Windows Phone was an even bigger mistake. Meego really could have been huge if they just stuck with it.