Nokia Lumia 800 and 710 usher in era of new opportunities

Today we announced our first Windows Phone devices, the Nokia Lumia 800 and the Nokia Lumia 710. These gorgeous smartphones, along with the great features found in Windows Phone 7.5 software signal a new era of opportunities from Nokia, as well as for you to create amazing everyday experiences.

As Nokia CEO Steven Elop said during his keynote speech at Nokia World this morning, Lumia means 'light', and signals a "new dawn" for Nokia calling them the "first real Windows Phones."

The Nokia Lumia 800 and Nokia Lumia 710 will start shipping in early November in a number of select markets. Nokia and Microsoft are working in hand with operators and other partners to raise the visibility of Windows Phone devices to consumers. Through unprecedented retail support and marketing campaigns, you can expect to see the Nokia Lumia 800 and Nokia Lumia 710 smartphones in the hands of millions of consumers. The Nokia Lumia 800 will retail for 420 euros; and the Nokia Lumia 710 will be priced at 270 euros.

While these phones offer uniquely people-centric experiences, with the striking Metro UI and feature differentiation that only Windows Phone brings, there is a noticeable brilliance that is built upon Nokia hardware. The Nokia Lumia 800 is a stylish aspirational smartphone with such features as Carl Zeiss autofocus camera and HD video, 3.7” AMOLED clear black display. The Nokia Lumia 710 delivers an attractively simple, durable and affordable smartphone with a large 3.7” LCD clear black display.

Both of these smartphones offer developers high performance with 1.4 Ghz Snapdragon CPU and 3D accelerated graphics processor. API access to camera, plus a variety of sensors such as gyro, compass, proximity and motion enable developers to offer innovative experiences. The use of the Microsoft Advertising SDK and available operator billing will ensure solid monetization benefits for your development plans.

You will be able to develop apps for Windows Phone with the proven C# and XAML frameworks. Metro UI and Fast App Switching delivers an elegant user experience. Windows Phone 7.5 features such as App Connect, Live Tiles and Bing Search assure intuitive apps discovery. If games are your thing you can create rich graphical, high performance games on Windows Phone — as well as Xbox. And the improved IE9 browser in Windows Phone means you can deliver compelling web experiences too.

By publishing your apps to the Microsoft Marketplace, your content will be available to the entire ecosystem of Windows Phone users; and we will help you to get your apps there faster. For qualified Nokia publishers, together with Microsoft we are offering you a rebate for the first year of App Hub membership.

To learn more about developing for the Nokia Lumia 800 and Nokia Lumia 710, please have a look at the new device specifications pages.