Will Nokia Launch Its First Windows Phone on Oct. 26?

SHENZHEN, CHINA—Nokia set the date for its annual Nokia World conference on October 26-27 in London, fueling speculation that this will be the venue for the company to announce its first Windows Phones.

Right now there aren't many details on the Nokia World site. Each day of the show has a keynote, and the agenda is bland. But at the Communicasia conference today where Nokia announced its MeeGo-based N9 phone, Nokia CEO Stephen Elop confirmed what EVP Jo Harlow told us in May that Nokia would be releasing its first Windows Phone 7 devices this year.

In February, Nokia said that it was abandoning Symbian and relegating the MeeGo OS to "science projects" in favor of Windows Phones, which Harlow told us will come out every few months. The first Nokia Windows Phones will run the Windows Phone Mango OS release coming out this fall, which PCMag previewed this week.

Nokia has traditionally used Nokia World to introduce prominent new products, and an October 26 introduction both puts Nokia's first phones in line with the potential Mango release date and on sale in time for the critical Christmas shopping season. With Nokia's market share slipping every quarter, the company can't ramp up Windows Phones fast enough.

Nokia announced the N9, its first MeeGo-based smartphone, early this morning. Even though Nokia has all but abandoned MeeGo, the N9 is an impressive device, including a 3.9-incled AMOLED screen, Near Field Communication (NFC) technology, and an intriguing feature called swipe, which allows users to swipe from the edge of the display will pull up your home screen. Check back with PCMag for a full review of the Nokia N9 when it's released.

Additional reporting by Alex Colon.

About Our Expert

Sascha Segan

Former Lead Analyst, Mobile

My Experience

I'm that 5G guy. I've actually been here for every "G." I reviewed well over a thousand products during 18 years working full-time at PCMag.com, including every generation of the iPhone and the Samsung Galaxy S. I also wrote a weekly newsletter, Fully Mobilized, where I obsessed about phones and networks.

My Areas of Expertise

US and Canadian mobile networks
Mobile phones released in the US
iPads, Android tablets, and ebook readers
Mobile hotspots
Big data features such as Fastest Mobile Networks and Best Work-From-Home Cities

The Technology I Use

Being cross-platform is critical for someone in my position. In the US, the mobile world is split pretty cleanly between iOS and Android. So I think it's really important to have Apple, Android and Windows devices all in my daily orbit.

I use a Lenovo ThinkPad Carbon X1 for work and a 2021 Apple MacBook Pro for personal use. My current phone is a Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra, although I'm probably going to move to an Android foldable. Most of my writing is either in Microsoft OneNote or a free notepad app called Notepad++. Number crunching, which I do often for those big data stories, is via Microsoft Excel, DataGrip for MySQL, and Tableau.

In terms of apps and cloud services, I use both Google Drive and Microsoft OneDrive heavily, although I also have iCloud because of the three Macs and three iPads in our house. I subscribe to way too many streaming services.

My primary tablet is a 12.9-inch, 2020-model Apple iPad Pro. When I want to read a book, I've got a 2018-model flat-front Amazon Kindle Paperwhite. My home smart speakers run Google Home, and I watch a TCL Roku TV. And Verizon Fios keeps me connected at home.

My first computer was an Atari 800 and my first cell phone was a Qualcomm Thin Phone. I still have very fond feelings about both of them.

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