Nokia strides confidently down the Windows Phone path

The summary is simple, Nokia announced their first two Windows Phones (the Lumia 800 and Lumia 710) at the London ExCeL centre this morning. The detail, strategy, and finer points will come out once I leave the bubble, but for now I want to make one point.

From an announcement on Feb 11th, through the finalising of  the contract in April, to shipping the device out the factory door yesterday is an insanely fast schedule. Nokia and Stephen Elop wanted to show they could deliver to schedule, and they have clearly done that. You can look at the standard components from Compal and Qualcomm, and the use of the N9 styling and design as reasons for this speed – but back in February, people thought that getting a very  limited release out before the end of the year would be a good result. Nokia have beaten the deadline by two months, with two handsets.

More coverage and editorial will be up on All About Windows Phone, but for now, on the production side, I’m impressed. I wonder what herophone  Nokia can come up with after another twelve months?