Nokia Windows Phone 7 Devices May Arrive by Q4

For those disappointed about the long wait for the first Windows Phone 7 Nokia smartphones, there may be a small ray of hope. In a recent interview on a Finnish television program, Nokia CEO Stephen Elop mentioned the possibility of the first Nokia Windows Phone coming at the end of this year.

"In the past, there have been longer lead times and that hasn't always worked out," Elop told the YLE television program "A-Plus". "It is possible [that we'll] see the first new phone in the last quarter of this year."

When the $1 billion, 5-year contract was solidified between Microsoft and Nokia, the Finnish phone manufacturer maintained that the first slew of devices featuring the Windows Phone 7 operating system wouldn't be coming until 2012. Indeed, Elop supported this estimate during the interview, saying, "The year 2012 is when we'll see a portfolio of [Windows Phone] products shipping in volume."

But Elop has yet to give up on getting the devices out the door sooner rather than later, as he immediately followed up that statement with, "The pressure is on all of us, myself included, to have those first devices this year but we haven't announced a specific date yet."

The first wave of devices borne of the Microsoft-Nokia partnership is said to consist of six different smartphones, with the first two rumored to be modified versions of the existing X7 and N8 phones from Nokia. Nokia will be licensing Windows Phone 7 for the smartphones and as such, it will need to pay Microsoft for each copy of the operating system that it uses.

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