Nokia is widely expected to release two or three Windows Phone handsets at its Nokia World conference, which begins Oct. 26 in London. Such devices have been anticipated ever since the struggling mobile phone manufacturer agreed in April to partner with Microsoft. (Indeed, some observers expected them to be delivered as early as August.)

When the devices do appear, they'll make a big difference to Microsoft's Western European market share, Strategy Analytics predicted Oct. 25. Along with other major hardware partners such as HTC and Samsung, Nokia will help bring Windows Phone up to 12 percent share during 2012, the research firm says.

Strategy Analytics predicts that 6.1 million Microsoft-based phones will have been sold in Western Europe by the end of this year. But by the end of 2012, that will have more than doubled to 14.4 million. That, according to the research firm, means Windows Phone's market share will have gone from 5.8 percent to 12.3 percent.

Neil Mawston, Director at Strategy Analytics,stated, "Due to growing support from leading hardware vendors, particularly Nokia, Microsoft is in a good position to become Western Europe's third major smartphone platform behind Android and Apple iOS next year."

"However," Mawston added, "we caution that Microsoft's long-term success is not yet fully guaranteed. There remain several ongoing challenges for Microsoft, including its limited support for high-growth dual-core superphones, the relatively modest size of its Marketplace apps store, and a consumer brand perception of Windows Phone that may have been tainted by the past weaknesses of the Windows Mobile operating system."

New Nokia phones

Nokia's intent to release Windows Phone 7 devices first started being rumored last Septemmber, when former Microsoft Business Division President Stephen Elop became the handset manufacturer's CEO. In April, Nokia and Microsoft signed their agreement to partner on Windows Phone 7.

June 21 then brought Nokia's announcement of the N9 (pictured), a high-end smartphone running the Linux-based MeeGo operating system. As our sister site LinuxDevices.com reported, the device features a 3.9-inch AMOLED (active matrix organic LED) screen, an eight megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss-branded lens, Dolby Sound, NFC (near field communication), and a Texas Instruments OMAP3430 processor.

Nokia's having hitched its wagon to Windows Phone 7 star made the N9 merely a well-endowed orphan, however. Elop emphasized that fact by brandishing the device's Windows Phone 7 successor (below) at a private meeting for the handset manufacturer's employees.

Nokia's Sea Ray
Source: Technet.hu

"Put away all cameras, turn off all recording equipment -- this is super-confidential and we do not want to see this on the blogosphere," Elop added. Before revealing the Windows Phone 7 device, he repeated "no pictures."

Yet just a few hours later, a video of the unveiling was leaked to the Hungarian website Technet.hu (see later in this story). Nearly 22 minutes long, this appeared to have been professionally recorded, complete with cutaways to slides, via a camera held above the audience.

Nokia publicity stunt or not, the video revealed details about the device code-named "Sea Ray." As noted by Elop, the Windows Phone 7 handset will include the same Gorilla Glass screen, "pillow-shaped" backing, and eight megapixel camera as the N9.

The side of Nokia's Sea Ray
Source: Technet.hu

Rumors now suggest the "Sea Ray" device will be known as the Nokia 800, going on sale in European shops from mid-November. Meanwhile, Nokia is expected to release at least two other phones -- especially since Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer told the audience at a Web 20 Summit event last week that the manufacturer will unveil a "bunch" of phones.

According to multiple reports and leaks, the 3.7-inch 800 will be joined by a relatively affordable device called the Sabre, offering a 3.5-inch screen and a five-megapixel camera. Meanwhile, if rumors are correct, a high-end model called the Ace will feature a 4.3-inch screen, an eight-megapixel camera, and a slide-out keyboard.

Since we posted the first version of this story, Win Rumors posted images of the 800 and Sabre that appear to have been leaked from an official Nokia presentation. According to author Tom Warren, the former device will be marketed as the Lumia 800, while the latter will be marketed as the Lumia 710.

It's safe to say that whatever phones Nokia releases will sport Qualcomm processors. The initial crop of Windows Phone 7 devices, whose hardware specifications were tightly controlled by Microsoft, all featured Qualcomm Snapdragon QSD8250 or 8650 processors. Both chipsets feature "Scorpion" application processors, but the QSD8250 supports only GSM, GPRS, EDGE and HSPA networks, whereas the QSD8650 supports both these and CDMA2000 1X, 1xEV-DO 0/A/B networks, according to the chipmaker.

A new Windows Phone 7 hardware specification unveiled at Microsoft's MIX11 conference in April added support for additional Snapdragon CPUs: the MSM7x30 and the MSM8x55. While still single-core devices, these processors allow OEMs to offer a wider range of clock speeds (from 800MHz on the MSM7x30 to 1.4GHz on the MSM8x55, according to Qualcomm), and they also provide Adreno 205 graphics -- said to offer over twice the performance of the Adreno 200 included with the earlier QSD8x50.

Stephen Elop unveiling the "Sea Ray"
(click to play; for full version, see Technet.hu)


An apparent Sea Ray prototype booting Windows Phone 7
Source: WMExperts
(click to play)

Further information

Strategy Analytics' predictions about Western European smartphone sales are said to have been excerpted from a full report, "Global Smartphone Sales Forecast by Country: EMEA." More details of the $6,999, 120-page document may be found on the company's website.

Jonathan Angel can be reached at jonathan.angel@ziffdavisenterprise.com and followed at www.twitter.com/gadgetsense.

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