Rumor: Nokia Windows 8 Phone As Soon As Next Month
Nokia Lumia 920 Concept
The first week of September will see Helsinki, Sweden host the ‘Nokia World’ event and according to rumors guests could be treated to the very first generation of Windows 8 Phones from Nokia.
Bloomberg reports:
“Nokia plans to announce Windows Phone 8-based handsets as early as next month at its Nokia World event — ahead of an expected Sept. 12 unveiling of the next version of the iPhone — and have them for sale before the year-end holiday shopping season, said a person with knowledge of the matter, asking not to be identified because the plan isn’t public. “
We have already seen prices of current Nokia Lumia models go down by as much as 50 percent and other than the announcement of a new Windows Phone 8 handset we cannot think of any other major showcase from the FInnish handset maker.
Apart from the September 12 Apple event introducing the next iPhone, there is also the Samsung event which is scheduled in a few weeks time, before the IFA consumer electronics show in Germany. The South Korean global smartphone leader has announced that it will be bringing out the second generation Note smartphone in that event. So, if a new Windows Phone 8 from Nokia does debut in September, it will have a very narrow frame of time during which to garner consumer attention to itself. And consumer attention is critical for the former smartphone global leader.
Nokia, despite its Lumia 900 model selling pretty well since its launch, could not maintain a profit due to its place being snatched by Samsungs and iPhones. Arnaud Bauduin, a Paris-based fund manager at Ofi Asset Management has described Nokia’s situation in a nice way, ““To come back, they either need to surf on a Microsoft success in mobile or become cool again — two complicated challenges.””
Another thing to note here is even if Windows 8 for phone does become popular with consumers, Nokia will still not be in peace, as it will then have to compete with other Windows Phone 8 handset makers. Someone like Samsung, two of whose WP8 devices we have already seen through FCC filings.
Nokia World event will be held between on September 5th and 6th in Helsinki, in an ‘invitation only event.’
Source: Bloomberg
Category: Mobile Phones, Nokia, Tech News, Windows Phone
