Nokia Corporation (NOK) Aligns with AT&T Inc. (T) for Lumias

Nokia Corporation (NYSE:NOK) gave the impression that it was going to make a comeback as a prominent handset maker in the U.S. smartphone market, having signed on with Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) and its Windows Phone 8 operating system in lieu of its own native Symbian system, and revealing a state-of-the-art handset in the top-line Lumia 920 at a major event in New York.

But Nokia Corporation (NYSE:NOK) lost whatever momentum it had from the reveal by not mentioning price, release date or deals with U.S. carriers. But Monday it was announced that AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) signed an official agreement to be a carrier of the Lumia 820 and 920 handsets that Nokia Corporation 9NYSE:NOK) revealed last month and are expected to be on store shelves around the first of Nov ember.

This is not a big surprise, as AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) was basically the only U.S. carrier that had an existing relationship with Nokia Corporation (NOK) surrounding the Lumia 900 which had run Windows Phone 7.5 by Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT). While this is at least one piece of information that was missing last month, there has been no official word about what the retail price of the handsets will be or when the actual release date will be. However, on the positive side, for Nokia Corporation (NYSE:NOK) to align itself with the No. 2 U.S. wireless carrier and its marketing machine can play well for customers who may be looking for an alternative to the iOS from Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) or the Android OS from Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG).

Nokia Corporation (NYSE:NOK) seems to be running out of time to work to re-establish viability in the largest wireless marketplace in the world, but there are questions whether investors like billionaire fund manager Paul Tudor Jones of Tudor Investment Corporation will continue to have patience as the Windows Phone 8 launch date is just days away.