Verizon WIreless sees a window of opportunity to develop a third major wireless device ecosystem with Nokia’s Windows-based phones. The nation’s largest carrier is looking for a third option for customers as RIM’s Blackberry devices steadily lose market share. Last year Verizon put a major marketing push behind smartphones powered by Google’s Android operating system to help insure competition for Apple’s iPhones. The subsidies that Apple charges operators to carry its popular devices have weighed heavily on carrier margins.
Nokia, of course is the biggest manufacturer of Windows-based phones, and the Finnish giant needs all the help it can get in marketing the smartphones. Yesterday Nokia said it lost $1.2 billion dollars in the first quarter as intense competition suppressed its smartphone sales. The company is reportedly at work on a PureView branded HD smartphone for Verizon. On a conference call with analysts yesterday, Verizon’s CFO Francis Shammo said the company is “fully supportive” of a third ecosystem “with Microsoft.”
The Lumia line of Microsoft Windows-based phones launched first in Europe, and sales have been disappointing there. But Nokia CEO Stephen Elop said in his company’s earnings announcement that Lumia sales in the US have “exceeded expectations.”
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