Nokia Unveils First Windows Phones

Bangalore: The largest cellphone maker Nokia unveiled its first Microsoft Windows Phone Lumia 710 and Lumia 800 in London. The phones will be available in European and other markets around the world by the end of this year. Nokia and Microsoft have said they will focus on close co-operation with operators to support the platform. Magnus Jern, chief executive of Barcelona-based mobile app development firm Golden Gekko, said, "operators really want to have another company on the scene: they don't want Google and Apple to rule the mobile universe." CEO Stephen Elop said, "the Lumia 800 and 710, based on Microsoft Windows software, will be accompanied by four other smartphones." With Microsoft software, Nokia hopes to gain the kind of attention Apple and Google have attracted from software developers that enrich their devices. Nokia, claiming 1.3 billion daily users, has been losing the smartphone race as it is squeezed in the low end by Asian manufacturers like ZTE and in the high end by the Apple Phone, Research in Motion's Blackberry and Google's Android devices.