Smartphones, tablets, and Symbian^3 handsets, what's on the menu for Nokia World in 2010

(Nokia)

Rumors about Nokia's big announcements at the company's annual Nokia World event are rife with increasing amounts of chatter about brand new high end smartphones, an updated Nokia Booklet 3G, next generation Symbian^3 handsets, and even whispers about a MeeGo tablet.

Nokia World is the Finnish-based phone maker's annual gathering to showcase new products and outline technological developments that are crucial to the company's future.

The event will highlight forthcoming trends in the mobile arena and will give participants the opportunity to go hands-on with the company's latest products.

Insiders are already placing bets on Nokia's big announcements, predicting that the company will rely heavily on one or more flagship smartphones and a powerful line-up of mid-range phones to try and boost the company's dwindling market share in 2011.

Most believe Nokia will use Nokia World as a forum to show off its (already announced) flagship Symbian^3 smartphone, the N8. Others are holding out for the company's first MeeGo-powered smartphone, a handset they are calling the N9.

For the moment, Nokia is keeping very quiet about specific product launches planned for the event.

"We haven't announced that there will be an N9 - the media are only speculating and of course our policy is that we do not comment on rumours," wrote Tracy Postill, corporate communications manager at Nokia Australia, in a September 8 email to Relaxnews.

A September 6 article written by UK technology blog ElectricPig suggested "Meego isn't just for smartphones. The Nokia and Intel OS is ideally suited to a tablet computer and there are rumours that that is exactly what Nokia is planning."

Sami Sarkamies, a Helsinki-based analyst at Nordea Bank told Bloomberg, "I'm expecting to see a couple of other products, such as the C7, a cheaper version with a couple of features taken out and a more plastic look and feel, and the E7, an enterprise version of the N8 with a full Qwerty keyboard."

Nokia World takes place at the ICC London ExCeL in London, UK from September 14 to 15.

For more information about Nokia World, head to: http://events.nokia.com/nokiaworld/home.htm

http://www.electricpig.co.uk/2010/09/06/nokia-world-next-week-5-things-we-might-see/
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-09-07/nokia-to-showcase-n8-in-bid-to-close-gap-with-apple-android.html