'Troubled' Nokia says latest Lumia devices 'not final throw of dice'

Nokia's senior Vice President of Smart Devices Jo Harlow has said the new Lumia phones were not the only chance the company had to prove it could still compete with rivals such as Apple and Samsung.

Harlow claimed that the Nokia's latest launched Lumia devices powered by Microsoft's Windows Phone 8 OS are not a final throw of the dice, despite stock markets' negative reaction.

"This is a step in the journey. This characterisation that it is the last step is not reality," the Telegraph quoted her, as saying.

"These are two devices; they're not all the devices that we'll base on Windows Phone 8. This is our strategy and it's a journey; there's not one moment in time that defines everything," she added.

According to the paper, Harlow claimed that Nokia was able to improve the overall Windows Phone platform and still provide differentiated products.

She cited NFC technology and improved maps as ways in which Nokia had benefited from its close relationship with the Windows maker.

"It's always a decision should this be in the platform or should it be unique to us. It's always in our interest to grow the platform, and if we have tonnes of differentiations it makes us slower when Microsoft gives us the software to implement," the paper quoted Harlow, as saying.

Microsoft and Nokia recently unveiled the new Lumia 820 and 920 smartphones at a special event in New York, in the hope that it will help the firm take on Apple and Google in the smartphone war.

The firm's share price, however, dropped by over 10 per cent as the new smartphones failed to impress investors.

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