Nokia Unveils N9 Smartphone

The Finnish company said the N9 is the first -- and probably last -- smartphone based on its MeeGo operating system. The device features a graceful polycarbonate minimalist design and includes a 3.9-inch AMOLED screen and 8-megapixel auto-focus camera with a wide-angle lens and HD-quality video capture.

Despite impressive hardware, the N9 risks being seen as a lame duck handset, a mere placeholder until the company can get its Windows Phone-powered next generation out the door.

MeeGo doesn't have a developed ecosystem of apps like Apple's iOS or Google's Android, and developers aren't likely to create apps for a dead-end platform.

On the other hand, if the new OS improves on recent Nokia software flameouts, the N9 could both garner both sales -- especially in less app-sensitive markets like Asia -- and general respect, proving to investors and potential customers that the world's number one handset maker still has the chops to field a top-notch product.

It could also function as a subtle message to Microsoft that Nokia is deserving of "special partner" status, giving the handset maker leverage when it comes to differentiating its Windows Phone products.

Nokia also announced the less-glamorous C2-03 phone, a touch screen slider with dual SIM slots aimed at cost-conscious markets.

"The reality is that 90 percent of the world does not have or cannot afford a smartphone or a high-end device", said Stephen Elop, Nokia's chief executive, at the conference in Singapore where the phones were announced.

The C2-03 may help stanch bleeding in Nokia's emerging market business, a historic strong point for the company where it has seen recent setbacks. Nokia's market share in China and India slid by more than a third last year, according to Gartner, in part because of stiff competition from low-cost off-brand Chinese phones.

Nokia's lack of dual SIM offerings, which are popular because they allow callers to juggle two numbers that may have preferential calling rates in varying situations, was also partly responsible for the beating.

Even with a comeback at the entry-level end of the market, Nokia will need to reassert itself in the high-margin smartphone arena to satisfy investors and stay relevant in its home markets. The N9 may go down as an interesting footnote in the company's history, but if it holds the fort until Nokia can field its first Windows Phone handsets, it will have performed admirably.

According to Elop, that will be soon.

"I have increased confidence that we will launch our first device based on the Windows Phone platform later this year, and we [will] ship our products in volume in 2012", he said.