An analyst by the name of Scott Moritz says that sources are telling him that Nokia’s first Windows Phones are having some issues getting out the door, and that we’re not going to see any Nokia Windows Phones sold until 2012. Doug Dawson, a Nokia spokesperson, quickly jumped on the rumor and started humming the religious chant we’ve all been hearing since as far back as February. You know how it goes: “We have increased confidence we will ship our first Windows Phone product this year.” Which one of these guys are right? We’ll find out in exactly one month when Nokia World kicks off. It’s expected that we’ll finally get some information about Nokia’s first non-Symbian/MeeGo/S40/S30 devices, along with some key launch details. For our American audience, you’re pretty much guaranteed to be ignored until 2012. The first Nokia Windows Phones will likely be released in Western Europe first in an attempt to stop current Symbian owners from transitioning to Android. Next up will be Asia, then South America, and after Nokia has shown AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, and Verizon that people actually want Windows Phone, then North America will get some love too.
Assuming Nokia does manage to ship on time, you do realize that their Windows Phones are going to be exactly like every other Windows Phone on the market? The deal Nokia made with Microsoft is so fresh that we doubt we’ll see any concrete differentiation with other Windows Phone Makers until 2012, likely towards the tail end of that year too. Listen, we like Windows Phone because it’s an extremely compelling competitor to Android and iOS, but Mango, the latest version of the OS, isn’t even up to parity with what Android and iOS currently offer. Both those operating systems are getting a version bump in a few weeks too.
Let the wait for Apollo begin.