Apple and Android Face Windows Phone Challange

Next week, mobile phone maker Nokia is expected to introduce its first Windows Phones at Nokia World in London. It will be Microsoft's most important step yet in its bid to get into the smartphone game against Google and Apple. Microsoft is going the Android route by licensing out its Windows Phone OS to Samsung and HTC as well.

The Nokia deal is noteworthy because Nokia sells more mobile phones than any manufacturer in the world. Most of them are feature phones, however, so for them to take such a big leap into the smartphone world with Microsoft has the mobile world wondering what could come of all of this. It should be noted that Nokia does have smartphones. They are not widely sold in the U.S., though, and they were going more with the Apple model of making the software and the hardware themselves.

Nokia World is important because Nokia will be casting aside its in house OS, Symbian, and teaming with Microsoft to start using the Windows Phone OS.

Microsoft and Nokia could be unveiling three new devices next week. They could be the Nokia 800 SeaRay, Ace and Saber. The details are limited, but the SeaRay could come with a curved glass 3.7-in screen, along with an eight-megapixel camera. The devices may not be immediately available in all areas of the U.S., but should me more available in 2012.

This is My Next has a thorough review of the Nokia N9 that could be helpful if you've never seen a Nokia smartphone before. It gets a decent review for a device that most will never see, and it puts the whole Windows Phone on Nokia launch in context. In the U.S. both companies have a lot of ground to make up against the Android and iOS ecosystems. Both Android and iOS have created OSes that can be run on tablets or smartphones, while Microsoft will continue to have separate systems for desktops/tablets and smartphones.

Tell us in the comments if you think Microsoft could become the number three smartphone OS.