Mobile war hots up as majors prepare to launch new gizmos

 Nokia and Microsoft Corp will take the wraps off the struggling European company’s most powerful smartphone on Wednesday, in what may be their last major shot at winning back a market lost to Apple, Samsung and Google.

The world’s largest software maker and the Finnish company that once dominated the cellphone market will showcase the device in New York and demo it for industry insiders about the same time in Helsinki.

Microsoft and Nokia hope the new Lumia will become a potent weapon in an escalating global mobile industry war. Google’s Motorola Mobility intends to show off its latest smartphone, Amazon.com Inc will unwrap new Kindle Fire tablets, and Apple unveil the latest version of its seminal iPhone on September 12. Samsung Electronics says it will sell its own Windows phone as early as next month.

The Lumia 920 and smaller Lumia 820 will run on the latest Windows Phone operating software, which Microsoft hopes will rival Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android to become a third mobile platform. If the new phones do not appeal to consumers, it could spell the end for loss-making Nokia and deal a serious blow to Microsoft’s attempts to regain its footing in the market.

Leaked pictures of the two models show a similar look to Nokia’s previous Windows phones, but analysts say these alone will not be enough to turn the corner. The stakes are high for both Nokia and Microsoft.

The Finnish handset maker has logged more than €3 billion ($3.8 billion) in operating losses in the past 18 months, forcing it to cut 10,000 jobs and pursue asset sales. Its share of global smartphone market has plunged to less than 10 per cent from 50 per cent during its heyday, before the iPhone was launched in 2007.

Windows phones have only captured 3.7 per cent of the global smartphone market, according to Strategy Analytics. Android phones have 68 per cent, while Apple has 17 per cent.

For Microsoft, successful Lumia sales could convince more handset makers and carriers to support its Windows Phone 8 software, which promises faster performance and a customisable start screen. Last week Samsung became the first to announce a smartphone running Windows Phone 8, at the IFA trade show in Berlin. But it was not able to provide the model to visitors at the show.

Ecosystem warriors

Apple’s first iPhone revolutionised the mobile industry, popularising the model of a third-party developer “ecosystem,” today considered pivotal to the success of any operating system. Part of the reason for the limited success of Windows phones is that they support only 100,000 or so apps, compared with about 500,000 or more for Android or iPhones.

There is also the interconnection between apps and content, typified by Apple’s iTunes and iCloud, which share content across devices, that acts as a powerful disincentive to switch between vendors.

The new phone software is similar to the Windows 8 desktop and tablet software to be released on October 26, making it easier for developers to write apps for both, and Microsoft hopes this will boost the platform’s popularity. But the Windows operating system is by no means universally popular in the PC market, so consumers will not necessarily come to the mobile phone equivalent with unalloyed goodwill.

The new Lumias could, however, benefit from continuing decline in BlackBerry, and also from a recent legal blow to the Android OS.