AT&T (NYSE:T) and Nokia (NYSE:NOK) today announced the upcoming availability of the Nokia Surge, a Symbian S60-based smartphone built with social networking in mind.
In the press release announcing the handset launch, Nokia stressed that it was designed in the US and on an open platform, two significant facts for Nokia as it tries to make inroads into the US market for smartphones. The US has not been Nokia, the global handset leader’s, traditional strong suite due in large part to a lack of carrier relationships. The N97, Nokia’s highest-end smartphone yet, for example, is available in the US only through open channels and retails for $699.
For these reasons, a partnership with AT&T is clearly good news for Nokia. This is Symbian Foundation member AT&T’s second show of support for Nokia this year. The carrier launched the E71x at the end of March with the promise of also opening Nokia’s Ovi Store sometime this year. Before the E71x, Nokia hadn’t shipped a carrier-branded qwerty-keyboard smartphone in the US since 2006, when it launched the E62 with Cingular. As the only nationally deployed UMTS network, AT&T remains the most logical partnership choice for Nokia, unless it switches it focus to building CDMA handsets, a possibility the handset maker has entertained.
The Nokia Surge, available on June 19, comes with a full qwerty keypad, browser with Flash support and screen optimized for multi-tasking and communication over instant messages, email and a slew of social networks through a pre-installed app from social broadcasting vendor JuiceCaster. The handset is also equipped with a 2.0 megapixel camera, AT&T Navigator and Mobile Music services and AT&T Video Share, an app that lets users share live video over their cell phone while on a call. The handset will retail for $79.99 with a two-year contract with AT&T and after a mail-in rebate.
Nokia will announce its second-quarter earnings on Thursday.