Nokia unveils smartphone MeeGo

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Nokia unveiled on Tuesday with a new smartphone operating system MeeGo, a platform that the Finnish giant is planning to give up, what should condemn combined with relative anonymity, analysts said.

At a conference in Singapore on telecommunications, the general manager of Nokia Stephen Elop, however, reiterated that the group would launch by the end of its first smartphone equipped with the operating system Microsoft Windows Phone.

He took the opportunity to present the N9, combined with the touch interface works with a simple swipe of a finger. The hull, designed polycarbonate, will be available in cyan, magenta and black.

This should be the first and only mobile in the range of work under Finnish MeeGo.

"It seems interesting to launch a phone like the N9 on a platform that was rejected by management," it said in a note to Didier Scemama, an analyst at RBS.

Stephen Elop said that the N9 was part of Nokia's strategy to provide "an exciting experience around the user interface, industrial design and platform development."

"Our main strategy in smartphones is to focus on Windows Phone", the leader noted, however, a former Microsoft executive hired by Nokia last year.

"I have great confidence in our ability to launch our first product based on the Windows platform later this year and deliver our mass-produced in 2012," he added.

"DSC NICHE"

The mobile platform MeeGo, initially seen as strategic in the battle against Apple and Google's high-end smartphones, is formed by the merger in 2010 of the Finnish system, Maemo and Moblin for Intel.

But Nokia has withdrawn from the project earlier this year.

"The release of N9 is too close to the expected launch of Windows Mobile Phone from Nokia to make an impact on the group's misadventures in smartphones," said Ben Wood, head of research at CCS Insight in London.

"The strength of competitive environment leaves little space for powered devices MeeGo. It is difficult to imagine that the N9 will be more than a niche device (...) The N9 will be very difficult to sell."

For Melissa Chau, analyst for the research institute IDC, the N9 will likely serve as the prototype of what Nokia will integrate into its handsets to come.

"(...) I do not expect that this phone situation straightened," she said.

Earlier this month, Nokia announced the departure of its chief technology officer on leave without pay. A Finnish newspaper reported that it would probably not do, especially because of its disagreement with the decision not to MeeGo.

Nokia's action ended up 3.85% Tuesday, while the Stoxx Europe 600 clinching the technology sector 2.13% in a market generally upward trend.

By Danielle Rouquié | Reuters