Even Microsoft Windows Phone 7 handhelds will soon have more apps than Blackberry.
The company previously announced a plan to adopt Microsoft Windows Phone 7 as the primary operating system for future smart phones.
FORBES: Nokia Cutting 4,000 Jobs; Outsourcing 3,000 To Accenture
At this event, Nokia is expected to introduce its successor to the high-end Lumia, which will operate on Microsoft Windows Phone 8.
The company also showed off its upcoming Microsoft Windows Phone 7 platform.
FORBES: Advertising Week 2010: Microsoft's Multiplatform Plan
Nokia will use Microsoft Windows Phone 7 as its primary smartphone platform.
While Apple's Facetime video service works only on iPhones, Tango works on iPhones and Android and will be on Microsoft Windows Phone 7 when it is released.
Interestingly, Microsoft (MSFT) stock has not seen strong money inflows along with Nokia even though Nokia Lumia phones are based on Microsoft Windows Phone operating system.
FORBES: Money Flying Out Of Apple Stock. Flocking To Facebook, RIM, Nokia
The smartphone industry remains highly competitive as Google Android, Research in Motion BlackBerry and Microsoft Windows Phone 7 are all vying for smart phone market share with their operating systems.
FORBES: Apple's Next Stop At $430 Then Cruises To $589 With iPhone Push
With Samsung joining ZTE, HTC, and Nokia, the long-game being played by Microsoft and Windows Phone continues.
Microsoft launched Windows Phone 7 last year with the hopes of making a major splash in the smartphone market.
FORBES: Android Is More Valuable To Microsoft Than Windows Phone 7
Today Microsoft announced Windows Phone 8, which will be available beginning this weekend and will continue to rollout through November.
FORBES: Microsoft Reveals Windows Phone 8, On Sale This Weekend
While Microsoft designed Windows Phone 8 to be compatible with standard Windows 8 development, the power of the average smartphone cannot compare to that of a high-end PC.
FORBES: Will Windows 8 Help Electronic Arts Get Back On Track?
This has been a key benefit touted by Microsoft for Windows Phone, albeit one that hasn't been a compelling enough proposition to dramatically boost Windows Phone's market share yet.
While HTC has apparently entered into a "close relationship" with Microsoft and Windows Phone 8, there will be nothing to match the scale of HTC's Sense additions to Android.
ENGADGET: Windows Phone 8S by HTC hands-on: a bright Windows phone that holds promise (video)
There is no "one size fits all" when it comes to mobile operating systems (OS) and the announcement by Microsoft of Windows Phone 8 will soon give customers another choice when shopping for a new Verizon Wireless smartphone.
Nokia will have to lean on other phone manufacturers that are also betting on Microsoft's Windows Phone operating system in order to spur interest from both consumers and application developers, Elop said.
That's consistent with how it runs its phone business, building smartphones that use either Google's Android or Microsoft's Windows Phone 7.
WP8 was announced over the summer and in an effort to keep everyone with the existing hardware (that would not support Windows Phone 8), Microsoft talked about an intermediate version of Windows Phone, running between the upcoming WP8 and the then current WP7.5.
In a surprise move, China Mobile chose Lumia 920T, a phone based on Microsoft (MSFT) Windows Phone 8 over iPhone 5.
Both draw inspiration from their makers' mobile operating systems, Apple's iOS and Microsoft's Windows Phone.
These moves come one day after Microsoft released its Windows Phone 7 operating system.
Microsoft recently launched Windows Phone 8 which brings the Windows and Windows Phone platforms closer.
FORBES: Microsoft's Earnings Will Be Another Test In Its Turnaround Year
Nokia has said the Google - Motorola deal would be good for its partner, Microsoft , and Windows Phone.
Nokia's flagship mobile running Microsoft's Windows Phone, the Lumia 900, has recently appeared in America to decent critical acclaim.
That distraction (and Palm OS' failure to advance) forced Palm to rebuild in much the same way that Microsoft has with Windows Phone 7 and RIM with QNX.
Summertime also brought a bit of a shock, as Microsoft revealed that Windows Phone 8 apps won't be compatible with the current generation of Windows Phone hardware.
It must deliver the vision he set out in the now infamous "burning platform" memo in February 2011, when he abandoned Nokia's in-house operating systems in favour of Microsoft's Windows Phone.
Last year Nokia's Stephen Elop flung his company off what he described as a burning platform, putting the Finnish giant's Symbian operating system out to grass to get into bed with Microsoft's Windows Phone.
If you are bored with Android phones and don't want to join the iPhone herd, you are quickly going to run out of smartphone alternatives - unless you opt for Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 operating system.
应用推荐