Nokia Lumia 800 US Release

When we saw the launch of Nokia’s first Windows Phone devices in London last month, we were disappointed that a concrete US release date wasn’t announced as well. All Stephen Elop would say is that a portfolio of Windows Phone devices would be released in the US in 2012. If the latest reports bear out, it could be that Nokia is waiting to release their Windows Phones in the US with LTE support, possibly with AT&T.

Currently Windows Phone Mango does not have LTE support. So either Nokia will customize Mango to support LTE, or they may wait to release after the next Windows Phone version which will natively support LTE, Tango, is available. Also, if they’re working with AT&T, there’s some waiting involved there, since AT&T’s 4G network is only HSPA+, not LTE. Verizon has an LTE network right now, so Nokia might be negotiating contracts with them as well, but that’s just speculation at the moment.

There has been talk that Apple is waiting to implement LTE in the iPhone 5, so if that’s the case, Nokia’s Lumia 800 (or whatever it will be called in the US) may be up against the iPhone 5 by the time they launch. However, with Microsoft’s current marketing push for Windows Phone, hopefully by the time the Lumia 800 comes to the US, mind and market share built up by then will make Nokia’s job a little easier.