Nokia betting solely on Windows Phones in the U.S.

By Tom Warren, on 9th Aug 11 7:26 pm with 23 Comments

Nokia is betting solely on its new range of Windows Phones for its U.S. customers.

The head of Nokia’s U.S. subsidiary has claimed that the company will exclusively focus on Windows Phone devices when they launch later this year. In an interview with AllThingsD, Chris Weber of Nokia explains that the Finnish phone manufacturer will ditch Symbian in the United States. “When we launch Windows Phones we will essentially be out of the Symbian business, the S40 business, etc. It will be Windows Phone and the accessories around that. The reality is if we are not successful with Windows Phone, it doesn’t matter what we do (elsewhere).”

Nokia is also focusing on selling devices through wireless carriers. The company has previously been forced to sell directly to consumers at full price after the majority of wireless carriers were unwilling to subsidise or market the company’s devices. Nokia’s strategy looks increasingly more risky as the company attempts to position itself back into a strong smartphone leader.

Both Microsoft and Nokia are planning to hold a joint Windows Phone event on August 17 at the GamesCom trade fair in Cologne, Germany. Nokia has rejected rumors that the company will show off new hardware at the event but it’s possible that “Sea Ray” will get an official mention or demonstration.

Nokia’s first Windows Phone, codenamed “Sea Ray” was leaked to the internet last month after Elop demonstrated the device at an internal company meeting. The device is expected to be available later this year. The design of the device appears to be identical to the recently announced Nokia N9, powered by MeeGo. The device is “super confidential” at this stage and features gorilla glass, pillow shaped backing and a carl ziess 8MP camera. The secret nature of the device hasn’t stopped it leaking however. A new video emerged last month of ‘Sea Ray’ booting up into Windows Phone 7.5. The video demo provides a good hands on for the new device. The product is Nokia’s first Windows Phone device and will be available later this year when the company releases a batch of Windows Phone 7.5 “Mango” devices.

  • Test1ngi23

    Don’t worry Stephen Elop, if Nokia tanks because of you, Microsoft will take you back.

    • Johnwr29938

      Is it possible to just ban these trolls? Makes reading the comments annoying.

    • Joe05

      I do not see that as trolling, it actually a future possibility.  Nokia is really on the rocks, they have lost over more then half their market cap since the burning platform memo, in every market their market share is tanking.  They are now close to be worth more selling off the parts of the company then keeping it whole.  Now with MS wanting to bring down the selling price of its WP7 phones to half of what they are this year, it will kill any margin %s Nokia was hoping for in the smartphone market.  

      So call some a troll for stating a unpleasant truth makes you appear naive at best and ignorant at worst.  

    • Anonymous

      You must be new to his comments.

    • Guest

      With all due respect, I’ve seen your comments, and you seem a bit of a negative yourself. Being informed removes doubt. Given that Motorola was in a worse position than Nokia is, I’m not worried.

      “The absence of doubt, breeds desire.
      The absence of fear, is the renewal of self.
      If there is truth to face, I will design it.”

    • OMG55

      Question….In a failing economy, what are most people trying to do? Save money? lower priced items do what? Make consumers purchase items because they feel their getting a deal. So, while some people can afford to purchase expensive items, there are more who cannot. This is why in the PC world, window will always rule. I don’t care the you can buy Apple’s OS for $70…because you cannot buy their hardware under $1k.

  • Anonymous

    Not much to see here honestly.  Symbian in the US is virtually nonexistent, and once they said WP is their OS of choice, the rest was obvious.  Now in other countries outside the US/UK, I’m sure they have some different priorities, but if WP takes off there as well, who knows.  With Nokia’s experience and services in these other markets, WP could really get a boost once they bridge those services. (Bing, Zune, Maps, etc.)

  • Aaron

    Unless this confirms that they will be launching Windows Phones in the US this year, then there really isn’t any news here.  We already know they are abandoning Symbian from the US market because they are abandoning it from ALL markets.

  • Grs_dev

    Why isn’t there a Dislike or negative vote feature on these comments? Let us weed out the trolls if you’re not willing to do it yourself…

    • Anonymous

      It’s the whole ‘facebook’ approach of things…

    • Guest

      It gets people fired up. –> More ad revenue. Ads also drive over consumption which is bad for people’s health and productivity among other consequences.

  • Renzo

    Pretty straight forward honesty here from Nokia USA; this actually makes me think WP really is going to be a strong brand, because a lot of people are betting it all on it.

  • The Black Mamba

     If one is trying to find out why windows phone 7 OS, in its current form, has not been as succeful as it should be, one can simply turns towards carriers and chain distribution where the OS have been considerably neglected. I mean, everybody knows that carries OEM have not pushed the OS compared as much as possible compare to Andriod which is leading the mobile market now.

        Microsoft has already done its part with the introduction of the Mango release which, in  my opinion, offers the most integrated experinece between a mobile operation system, its catalogs of applications and the service such as zunepass, search and office productivity. And when it comes to tools development, the windows phone developmening tools is the best with the resource avalaible and the ease of Microsoft visual studio. So, that turns my attentio to Nokia…  

       I think Nokia, additionally with great hardware and service, will bring what is missing with windows: carrier engagment, reliable and earned-trut partership especially in Europe, and most importantly great chain of distribution. Nokia, wiht all the keys and essential elements, will change the mobile landscape for windows, at least in europe. And great advertisement will also help. 

    • Anonymous

      Ah the “Blame the carrier” excuse.

      Let me tell you the real reason no one is buying WP7. They don’t like it. Simple as that.

      WP7 is available in Europe, where people like unsubsidized phones, and it still sells terribly, everybody buys and an iPhone or an Android, WP7 isn’t even on people’s list, once they see it, it’s immediately out of the equation.

    • Anonymous

      Let Mango is out in the wild for 6 months. Then come back and tell us how nobody likes it.

    • Anonymous

       Yea, I’m interested how it’ll do,

      Let me take an early guess though, it will still bomb, it’ll bomb even worse. And WP7 advocates will say “Wait till Tango releases, wait till WP8 releases” and so on…

    • Guest

      Troll. Android has a return rate of 30%. WP’s satisfaction rate is 93%. When people actually try WP they love it. They just don’t know it exists.

    • Anonymous

       Compare the percentages.

      I specifically asked at an O2 shop here in Europe how were WP7 phones selling. And they told me that they were not pushing them at all and the reason was that people would return them, so unless somebody asks for a WP7 specifically they don’t push it.

      And that’s why WP7 has a high satisfaction rates, people specifically want one.

      Android, many consumer have it and don’t even know what OS it is.

    • phil jay

      It has something.. The biggest problem in europe is knowingly that half of the services available in us simply don’t work here. When you say “Windows!” then they say “Ugh, not windows!”, then they ask if it can do this or that, and you gotta say “Well, not quite..”

    • phil jay

      It has something.. The biggest problem in europe is knowingly that half of the services available in us simply don’t work here. When you say “Windows!” then they say “Ugh, not windows!”, then they ask if it can do this or that, and you gotta say “Well, not quite..”

    • Renzo

      What is your ultimate goal by coming here and trolling every comment thread?

      Visitors to this site are already interested in Microsoft products regardless of what you say, and also, what vested interest do you have in seeing Microsoft products fail?

      Either you’re still a child and don’t know any better or you work for the competition, because anything else would just be an extremely sad waste of your time.

    • Renzo

      What is your ultimate goal by coming here and trolling every comment thread?

      Visitors to this site are already interested in Microsoft products regardless of what you say, and also, what vested interest do you have in seeing Microsoft products fail?

      Either you’re still a child and don’t know any better or you work for the competition, because anything else would just be an extremely sad waste of your time.

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