Nokia to Make Symbian Smartphone for AT&T? [Nokia & Qualcomm to Develop New Symbian Phone]

Finally we hear that Nokia is making a new move in its never-ending quest to conquer the U.S. market. We’ve seen too many Android and BlackBerry phones lately so a change is more than required. I’d very much like to see Nokia launch a successful Symbian phone although I don’t think current Symbian versions can really compete against other mobile platforms.

Rumors say that Nokia is working closely with Qualcomm to launch a new phone in the U.S. market. And this time around Nokia has a deal with an American carrier. AT&T is apparently waiting for the phone and I really hope it will be a hit.

Nokia seems rather desperate to increase its presence in the U.S. where it currently holds only a 5% market share. That’s nowhere near its global 38% market share. Its latest smartphone, the N97, hasn’t impressed any North American carrier so far and the Finnish company has been selling it unlocked without much success. A partnership with a carrier like AT&T is what Nokia needs to gain more exposure and sell more phones in the USA.

So what phone will Nokia launch? No details have been properly leaked so far. The suggested Qualcomm chip seems to be the Snapdragon which means that Nokia’s future phone could offer a similar performance to HTC’s HD2 or Toshiba’s TG01. Hopefully the smartphone will run an advanced version of Symbian too. Maemo hasn’t been mentioned which means this secret phone will definitely have Symbian running inside.

In case you’re surprised to see Qualcomm and Nokia working together then you should know that the companies have reached a truce. They will not fight over patent ownerships and if everything goes well we could see Nokia launch more than one phone with Qualcomm chips inside. As a sign of good faith Qualcomm has decided to officially join the Symbian Foundation. With all the companies supporting the Symbian Foundation we should see some results soon.

Everything sounds interesting enough already so all we have to do now is patiently wait for Nokia and AT&T to surprise us. What’s the last Nokia phone you purchased?