Nokia 800, or "Sea Ray", is expected to be announced at Nokia World in London this week
Nokia’s first Windows Phone 7 phone – the one it is betting its entire future on – could miss the US holiday shopping season. With marketing for the device in that region not starting in 2012, it could indicate that Nokia could be launching in Europe first before the all-important US region.
According to AdAge, the company is looking for an agency to launch its Windows Phone 7 phonse in the US, specifically asking for a “San Francisco-area digital agency” to “dimensionalise” the idea of “Amazing Everyday”. The marketing brief appears to be targeting first smartphone buyers and defectors from iPhone and Android.
The company announced in early 2011 to ditch its own Symbian OS and will use Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7. The mix of Nokia’s hardware coupled with a real contender by Microsoft in the mobile smartphone market seems like a good fit.
However, with recent announcements from Samsung and Motorola, both on Android, and the iPhone 4S still the much-hyped phone, despite the web complaints of being not the “iPhone 5” (and I know Chris Southcott will argue it is the iPhone 5, but branding is everything), Microsoft/Nokia needs to make a splash if it wants to compete against the Samsung-Google alliance and Apple, or Nokia will likely find it even tough to compete in all markets, especially in the growing region of China, where the iPhone is almost treated like the “God device”.
Nokia is expected to announce their first Windows Phone 7 phone at Nokia World in London.