WP8 coming October? Nokia Apollo Phones due shortly after September’s Nokia World?

The Finnish Tabloid Italehti.fi is reporting that the next update to Windows Phone – Windows Phone 8/Apollo is expected in October.

http://www.iltalehti.fi/digi/2012041315447510_du.shtml

Nokia World is taking place, September 25-26 :). That should allow Nokia, like before, to already be shipping products in time for mid October release. Please, please, please have the phones ready very soon after announcement.

Incidentally, Samsung are also said to be producing WP8 products, also due in October. The significance of this is not so much competition (SGSIII in WP8?) but more confirmation of the date.

http://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_confirms_windows_phone_8_devices_in_the_second_half_of_2012-news-4090.php

Is it good right now for Nokia to have competition in WP? Yes and No. No in that it would make it super easy for Nokia to just be the only one selling WP. But who wants to be the biggest fish stranded in a puddle – let alone a pond. Nokia is already the big fish for WP but that body of water – the consumer base is microscopic. Nokia has shown they can take control and lead WP, but they are still very much in need of the assistance of other partners. Whilst WP is still no where on the radar for most people, Nokia needs to have HTC and Samsung assisting the brand image of Nokia’s Lumia platform, WP to get this accepted into mainstream. Samsung may take a percentage of total Nokia sales, but isn’t it better to have a significant fraction of something huge than to have the all of something incomprehensibly small? Where would Android be if it was ever just HTC from the start? Now it’s an option for everyone, and now it’s strong enough, Google can afford for Samsung (who came after HTC) to keep making sales and profits whilst the others don’t. Who knows how long Samsung will stick around when their Tizen is ready. Perhaps eventually if Nokia gets strong enough they can also leave WP…and maybe HTC gets back both systems and everyone is more or less happy.

Sources: iltalehti.fi and gsmarena

Thanks Janne and Sonny for the tips

Category: Nokia, Windows Phone