Nokia's slide still looks to be a fair way from over – just today the company's credit rating was given another bump downwards – but boss Stephen Elop says the first Nokia Windows Phone 8 handset will be with us “relatively near term”.
Elop wouldn't make the obvious connection to Nokia World, which kicks off in Helsinki on September 5, and yet surely there can't be any other possibility.
It's been a long hard 18 months for Nokia since a newly appointed Elop decided to steer the company away from its MeeGo and Symbian heritage and instead team up with former employer Microsoft and Windows Phone.
Yet despite massive financial losses since then and widespread criticism from a large number of the Nokia faithful – and a fair few former employees too – Elop remains adamant that just because Nokia's Windows Phone gamble hasn't paid off yet, doesn't mean it was a bad decision in the first place.
Speaking to reporters in Oslo this week, Elop said he still felt Nokia was on the right platform. “I don't think about rewinding the clock and thinking about competing elsewhere,” he said. “In today's war ... (between) Android, Apple and Windows, we are very clear, we are fighting that with the Windows Phone.”
With that in mind, it's surely essential that Nokia have something significant to show off at Nokia World – especially considering just seven days later Apple is expected to announce the iPhone 5.
Not that Nokia's debut Windows Phone 8 smartphone is necessarily expected to be a direct rival for Apple's next world-conquerer, but at least it'll give the company a chance to steal some headlines before iPhone fever takes hold.
Via Reuters
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