The world's first Nokia Windows Phones will be revealed at the Nokia World Event in London on Oct. 26.

Nokia will announce its rollout plans with Windows Phone, among other things, said Andy Lees, president of Microsoft's Windows Phone division. [Nokia] made an evaluation early on, and saw our roadmap for this year and next year, and it decided to bet the whole company on Windows Phone based on that.

Lees said that Nokia's devices will come with differentiating hardware and software, which means that the Nokia Windows Phones will not just be a repackaged version of Windows Phone Mango. The first batch of Windows Phone 7 phones all had very similar software, as requested by Microsoft.

Also, since Lees said phones in the plural, Nokia will be showing off more than one device at Nokia World.

We've seen that other hardware makers have seen this occurrence as an accelerant, which in turn helps both Microsoft and Nokia, Lees said. I'm also excited about naming some new [original equipment manufacturers] OEMs that will be coming onboard [with WP7].

This report aligns with a previous announcement from Nokia's European VP Victor Saeijs, who told the audience at the 2011 Mobile Telecompaper conference in June that the first Nokia Windows Phone 7 devices will hit the market later this year. Saeijs also claimed he had one in his pocket at the time, but refused to pull it out and show the audience.

On Wednesday, shots of Nokia's super confidential Windows Phone were leaked online, showing off its candy-colored phones available in blue, pink and black. From the photos, the power button, volume controls, and dedicated camera shortcut key are all located on the right side of the handset, with a speaker at the base of the device. The Nokia phone features the same live-tile interface of the Windows Phone 7.5.

Nokia recently cut around 3,000 of its workers as a result of poor smartphone sales. The company is going all in with the new Windows Phone devices, and cannot risk another failure.

However, Nokia and Microsoft may have the best chance of dethroning Apple's iPhone. With so many other smartphones coming out this season intending to look, feel and perform just like Apple's successful iOS devices, Microsoft is going in the other direction, providing users with a completely different experience from both Apple and Google.

You don't need to be a computer scientist to use a Windows Phone, and you do to use an Android phone, said Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer at the Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco Wednesday. It is hard for me to be excited about the Android phones.

At the Build conference in September, Microsoft Windows president Steven Sinofsky unveiled Windows 8, a completely new operating system with a vastly different look and feel to Apple's iOS platform. While Windows 8 will only be available on PCs, laptops and tablets, Microsoft's Metro-style apps and live tile design is a clear departure from Apple's icon look.

We have a different point of view on how touch works and we have a different point of view on how apps work and it's been deeply thought out, said Jensen Harris, Windows' director of program management.

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said that Windows 8 would arrive in 2012 on PCs and tablets, but with Windows 8, Microsoft proved that it will not be another Apple clone.

The company is taking its Windows Phones seriously. In early October, Microsoft decided to discontinue its Zune media player, stating that Windows Phone will be the focus of our mobile music and video strategy.

Nokia World will take place at the ICC London ExCeL from Oct. 26-27.

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