Nokia is planning its own Windows Phone app store, according to reports.

The Finnish device manufacturer is currently preparing a number of Windows Phone devices for release later this year and in 2012. Alongside the hardware work, Nokia is also creating its own Windows Phone app store. Microsoft’s own Senior Director of Windows Phone Developer Experience, Brandon Watson, revealed the app store in an interview with Bloomberg last week.

“It will look slightly different on the phone from the one that’s for all the other vendors, and they will have more control over the merchandising,” he said. “Nokia’s invested tons of money around building apps, so one of my main jobs right now is ensuring that we don’t lose a single developer to Android or iOS,” he added.

Nokia CEO Stephen Elop detailed some of the company’s app store plans in an interview with Nokia conversations last week, via WMPoweruser. “One of the key elements of our strategy is that locally relevant applications are very important,” said Elop. “With the new plans around the Windows Phone, we’re making sure that there are the right development tools and all of the right incentives to help developers,” he added. Elop also described the need to package together all of Nokia’s available applications into one store to help developers. “Indeed with our online store, the applications for Windows Phone, for Series 40 and for Symbian will all be collected together so we can get maximum exposure as far as we possibly can to help our developers.”

Nokia has promised to supply a batch of Windows Phone Mango devices and new devices every few months. Nokia’s Windows Phone devices are currently labelled with “W” (for Windows). The first handset is expected to be a variant of Nokia’s X7 device. The prototype is equipped with a WVGA display, Qualcomm QSD8250 chipset and 8MP camera. Nokia is also rumored to be launching a dual-core N8 variant with a 12MP camera, QWERTY touchscreen candy bar phone and a cheaper touchscreen device with less expensive body.