Nokia Lumia 900 to be released in March

Nokia unveils its latest smart-phone model in Vegas. The Lumia 900 is the company’s hope to rule the American market.

Nokia has launched its new smart-phone, the Lumia 900, at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

No release date has been set for when the new phone will go on sale; however, it should arrive on the market during the coming months.

Nokia’s President and CEO, Mr Stephen Elop, said at the press conference in Vegas that the phone was part of Nokia’s plan to connect the next generation of people to the internet.

He told the audience: “A pillar of our strategy was focused on our smartphones. We believe that the industry has shifted from a battle of devices to a war of eco-systems and nowhere is that more evident than here in the United States. So we decided to adopt the Windows phone platform to compete in this war of ecosystems.”

The Finnish company teamed up with American software giant Microsoft for all of its smartphone projects. The new handset runs windows software, as did the Lumia 800 which was released by Nokia in October last year. The former model did not perform as well as the company hoped.

At 10.9cm, the new Lumia handset has the largest screen to date. Its size allows for a larger battery with a capacity of 1830 miliamp hours. It will be available on AT&T, the largest telephone network in the United States and 4G capability, allowing for fast, broadband internet access. It will not have near field communications (NFC) capabilities which allow for cashless payment systems.

Sales of Nokia handsets have fallen to almost nil in the United States. Both the iPhone, which was released there five years ago, and Google’s Android, which was released in 2008, have proved popular. They will provide a challenge for Nokia’s new handset.

Nokia will also release the smaller Lumia 710 handset in the United States. This phone has already been released in Europe. In America it will run on the T-Mobile network.

There had been rumours that Nokia intended to buy BlackBerry’s parent company Research in Motion (RIM); however, Mr Elop has denied this. He said that Nokia intended to compete with RIM.

Mr Elop has also suggested that Nokia will produce a series of cheaper smartphones. This will be done in order to compete in other areas of the American market.