Stephen Elop says Q4 for Nokia Windows Phone rollout

Stephen Elop, Nokia’s relatively fresh-faced CEO, is a huge proponent of Windows Phone. He’s even putting most of his eggs in one basket as the company scales down its massive Symbian phone output (though complete support won’t stop until 2016) and is hoping to get as many customers to switch over to WP7 as possible. They’re even offering tools and support to trepidatious users unsure of the transition.

In a recent chat with some Chinese tech journalists, Elop says that Nokia’s first Windows Phone devices will debut in Q4 of this year, but will have a country-by-country rollout plan. This means that Canada may not get the much-anticipated devices until sometime next year as the phone giant taps into bigger, more lucrative markets. Certainly they will look to appease their current fan base in Europe and Asia, as well as the huge North American market, though no insight into when us Canadians will be so lucky.

There is no doubt that Nokia is on the right track with Windows Phone — Mango is set to release any day now and buzz has been excellent for the impending upgrade. Whether this will translate into actual sales is another story, but consumers already know of Nokia as a maker of top-of-the-line hardware; adding a touch-friendly, stable operating system with a sizable app library and excellent social media support will be key.

Source: WPCentral