14 DAY TRIAL // Next year, Finnish mobile phone maker Nokia will start pushing its first Windows Phones to the market in the United States, and it seems that the company is content with how negotiations with wireless carriers in the country went.
The first smartphones based under Microsoft's Windows Phone operating system will be delivered to US shelves in early 2012, and Nokia says that this was possible only due to the fact that things went great with carriers in the country.
In a recent interview with GigaOM, Nokia's CEO Stephen Elop said that they have registered great progress in the United States, and that he is confident that things will go smoother than before.
Moreover, he also explained that the company plans on making a push to the US by releasing mobile phones that are unique.
In other words, Nokia's Windows Phones for this country will pack features that won't be available in devices launched elsewhere.
Although Elop did not offer specific info on the matter, it seems that he was actually referring to features such as NFC or LTE being packed with these devices.
Latest rumors suggested that we might even see an LTE-powered Nokia Windows Phone launched in the US in early 2012, as the company strives to differentiate.
Recently, Nokia's Executive VP of Location and Commerce, Michael Halbherr, said that the company will include NFC inside its Windows Phones for the US, and that other specific features will also be there.
The Nokia Maps service is one of them, with voice navigation (Nokia Drive) and other features and capabilities, and there is also the Nokia Music service, the new offering Nokia added to its portfolio.
Services like Nokia Drive or Nokia Music are only some of the specific features that the handset vendor plans on introducing inside its Windows Phones to make them more appealing than before, and Elop explained that in the said interview.
“Nokia Drive is only a first step in broader location-based services. We already demonstrated Live View, an augmented reality browser, bringing together a virtual world and the real world through the mobile device. Nokia plans on differentiating in the entertainment area as well,” he said.