Verizon, AT&T Put New Nokia Phone to the Test (NOK, MSFT, VZ, VOD, T)

A new smartphone from Nokia Corp. (NYSE: NOK) using the Windows Phone operating system from Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) is reportedly being tested by the two largest US wireless carriers for use on 4G LTE networks. Both Verizon Wireless, a joint venture between Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ) and Vodafone plc (NASDAQ: VOD), and AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) are testing Nokia’s Lumia 800 smartphone on their networks, even though the official version of the phone’s OS does not officially support the high-speed networks.

Nokia needs to get back into the US smartphone market in a major way, and the recent introduction of its lower-priced Lumia 710 phone on T-Mobile USA’s network is not going to do the trick. Demand for 4G LTE compatibility is driving US sales, and Verizon Wireless and AT&T want the more powerful devices to attract customers to their value-added data plans.

Whether either of the two major carriers decides to offer the Lumia 800 depends at least as much on their being able to promote the device as it does on its capability. The phone has been on sale in Europe for months, and could be viewed by customers as yesterday’s technology. No one wants to shell out $300 or more for a device that is already halfway through its life cycle.

But Nokia had to start somewhere, and this might be as good a place as any. With the planned introduction of Windows 8 late next summer or early in the fall, Nokia has to be ready with a product to take advantage of the hype that will surround Microsoft’s latest operating system. If the Lumia 800 is ever available in the US, it will quite likely be for a very short time or at a lower-than-premium price.