Bloomberg is reporting that Nokia will formally announce its Windows Phone 8 Lumia lineup for the 4th quarter during its heavily revised Nokia World trade show being held next month, ahead of Apple’s own planned event for the next iPhone. With the current Lumia lineup being made obsolete in order to evolve the Windows Phone platform, Nokia is expected to announce new devices that demonstrate its goals of Windows Phone being the foundation for the company’s currently floundering smartphone strategy going forward.
With Nokia announcing its lineup ahead of Apple, the idea is that the lead time would help Nokia to gain a short-lived advantage in terms of publicity for its Windows Phone 8 line, however slight. Apple is expected to announce its next iPhone and related iOS products on the 12th with the launch planned for the 21st, while Nokia’s own devices won’t launch until late October to coincide with the simultaneous launch of Windows 8 or even later in the Fall, greatly diminishing the impact of the planned announcement.
With Nokia continuing to hemorrhage millions of dollars every quarter and engaging in deep structural cuts that may leave them even more vulnerable than the company’s current position, the announcement timing will only serve to leave them open to continuing criticism in the wake of the continually declining position of the company after dedicating itself completely to Windows Phone.
While losses have narrowed for the company compared to previous quarters, the fact that they continue to lose money on the current Nokia Lumia line despite millions in joint investment with AT&T points to an equally bleak future for Windows Phone 8 and more obstacles for Nokia itself, especially as AT&T retail sales employees continue to prefer to push Android and the iPhone over the Lumia series despite increased incentives and training.
