There is nothing like being stuck between a rock and a hard place.
At Nokia World, which is taking place in Helsinki, Finland on September 5-6, 2012, Nokia will very likely be announcing and demoing its new Windows Phone 8 phones. At least if a recent Bloomberg news item is to be believed – and there is no reason to think otherwise. In fact, we would be hard pressed to understand how Nokia could possibly hold such an event without bringing the new mobile devices out of the dark. Such an announcement would not necessarily suggest when any new WP8 devices might actually ship (they had better, of course, be available during the holiday buying season – something which Research in Motion will miss the boat on).
But, as luck would have it, Apple, as the entire mobile world now believes, is expected to hold its own “next iPhone” event on September 12 or thereabouts. Would anyone be willing to place a bet that once Apple breaks its news it won’t drive Nokia so far out of the headlines as to appear Nokia never actually announced any new phones? Probably not. We know we wouldn’t.
Can Nokia Sustain an Announcement?
Nokia of course is Microsoft’s most important WP8 partner at this point in time. And we can expect that Microsoft is going to help Nokia drive some large scale advertisements in the United States once the news breaks at Nokia World. But will the carriers cooperate? Within AT&T one can’t even find Lumia 900 phones on the display racks these days (current reports suggest that about 600,000 Lumia 900s, which launched in April 2012, were sold in Q2 2012). We’ve also recently provided some perspectives on how Nokia and Microsoft can work with AT&T and Verizon (at least over time) to possible put some brakes on the Apple machine. But…it is going to be extremely difficult given Apple’s announcement schedule.
It would be at least a bit of a head-turner if Nokia were to show off a tablet of some sort in addition to announcing new smartphones. And as we’ve noted previously, it might also capture a few imaginations if Nokia were to introduce a super high end, large (but not overly large) screen, WP8-based camera smartphone utilizing its Symbian-based PureView 808 with its 43 megapixel camera technology and imaging capabilities. (see image below)
Imagine if Nokia and Microsoft were to offer rebates on such a smartphone in combination with carrier subsidies that kept the price under $200 – that would at least offer a truly worthy challenge to whatever Apple has cooked up for the next iPhone and might cushion the blow.
A cushion is a very useful thing when one is stuck between a rock and a hard place.
Want to learn more about today’s powerful mobile Internet ecosystem? Then be sure to attend the Mobility Tech Conference & Expo, collocated with ITEXPO West 2012 taking place Oct. 2-5 2012, in Austin, TX. Co-sponsored by TMC Partner Crossfire Media the Mobility Tech Conference & Expo provides unmatched networking opportunities and a robust conference program representing the mobile ecosystem. The conference not only brings together the best and brightest in the wireless industry, it actually spans the communications and technology industry. For more information on registering for the Mobility Tech Conference & Expo click here.
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Tony Rizzo has spent over 25 years in high tech publishing and joins MobilityTechzone after a stint as Editor in Chief of Mobile Enterprise Magazine, which followed a two year stretch on the mobile vendor side of the world. Tony also spent five years as the Director of Mobile Research for 451 Research. Before his jump into mobility Tony spent a year as a publishing consultant for CMP Media, and served as the Editor in Chief of Internet World, NetGuide and Network Computing. He was the founding Technical Editor of Microsoft Systems Journal.Edited by
Amanda Ciccatelli 
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