Jun 24, 2011 11:51 GMT  ·  By

Finnish mobile phone maker Nokia is gearing up for the release of their first handsets based on Microsoft' Windows Phone operating system, but it seems that it might not manufacture the first batch of devices, but will have them made by a third-party company, Compal Communications.

“Industry sources” cited by DigiTimes note that Compal already landed orders for Windows Phone 7 devices coming from Nokia, and that it will ship them in the fourth quarter of the ongoing year.

It sounds surprising that the world's leading mobile phone maker is not using its own plans for the manufacturing of their Windows Phones, but the move makes sense in a way.

For starters, we should note that Compal has signed a licensing agreement with Microsoft for Windows Phone 7, and that the company is rumored to have landed orders for Windows Phone 7-based smartphones from Acer as well.

The agreement with Microsoft should result in the building of a foundation based on Windows Phone 7, aimed at shortening the time to market for smartphones.

At the same time, the move will enable the company to expand the pool of Windows Phone-based clients, company chairman Ray Chen commented.

Microsoft already signed licensing agreements with phone makers like Nokia, HTC, Samsung Electronics, LG Electronics, Acer, Fujitsu and ZTE, and the deal with Compal will enable it expand the Windows Phone 7 ecosystem faster.

For Nokia, the agreement with Compal results in the near availability of Windows Phone 7 devices, something that will certainly help the company a lot in its attempt to regain the market share it has been losing lately.

At the moment, Nokia's plans are focused on the manufacturing of Symbian-based devices, and it will take some time before the company manages to re-organize them to produce Windows Phones as well.

Nokia promised volume shipments of its Windows Phone 7 devices for the next year, and those handsets will certainly come from some of its own assembly lines.