Bloomberg: Verizon to roll out Nokia WP8 phone
updated 01:08 pm EDT, Wed August 22, 2012
New Nokia Oyj model to come to Verizon
Sources familiar with the matter tell Bloomberg that Verizon is planning to carry a new Nokia phone running Microsoft's Windows Phone 8 operating system later this year. The new phone will mark the first time since the middle of last year that Verizon has released a Windows Phone device. For Nokia, having a major handset appear on Verizon will be yet another step in the Finnish handset maker's efforts to ameliorate its sluggish sales and claw back share in a market dominated by Apple's iOS and Google's Android.
The model appearing on Verizon isn't expected to appear at the joint Microsoft-Nokia event scheduled for early September. The Verizon phone will launch some time after, though details on a launch window are sketchy.
Carrying a Nokia phone running Microsoft software would provide Verizon with a bit of leverage for the carrier, which finds itself increasingly dependent upon Apple's iPhone and smartphones running Google's Android. The move would of course have greater benefits for Microsoft and Nokia, which would see their respective platform and hardware gain a foothold on the nation's largest wireless carrier.
Earlier this year, rumors emerged that Nokia had been working on a handset, nicknamed Om, that would have been compatible with Verizon's network. The plans are said to have been secretly scrapped by Verizon, though, when the carrier announced that all smartphones on its network would have to be LTE-compatible in the future.
