The struggling phonemaker shows off its first Windows handsets EIGHT months ago Stephen Elop, Nokia's newish chief executive, told the Finnish phonemaker's staff that they were "standing on a burning platform" and had no choice but to jump into the "icy waters" below. His plan for fishing the company out of the freezing briny rests largely on making smartphones that use Microsoft's Windows operating system—and getting them to market quickly. On October 26th Mr Elop unveiled the first of these devices. On a live feed from Salo, in Finland, a proud employee packed a Lumia 800 into its box. It is due to go on sale in six European countries next month. It will have a cheaper sibling, the Lumia 710. By recent standards, this is fast work. Nokia had been slow to cotton on to the popularity of touch screens. Its own operating system, Symbian, which was not designed for touch, looked clunky. While Nokia dithered, consumers lapped up Apple's iPhone and the many smartphones based on Google's Android operating system. All this cost Mr Elop's predecessor, Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, his job in September 2010.
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