Nokia Corporation (NOK) Lumia Smartphone Set for November Release

Nokia Corporation (NYSE:NOK) probably would love to ship its new Lumia 820 and 920 smartphones with the Windows Phone 8 operating system as soon as possible, but timing is everything. A piece came out Friday morning citing anonymous sources that the struggling handset manufacturer will have its new flagship phones on U.S. store shelves sometime in November – perhaps as early as November 2, which would be a week after the anticipated release date of the Windows 8 operating system and the Surface tablet by Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT).

Reports are that Nokia Corporation (NYSE:NOK) will be beholden to Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT), which apparently is still finalizing its Windows Phone 8 and Windows 8 operating systems and they won’t be released until late October, which means Nokia Corporation (NYSE:NOK) would be using Windows Release to Manufacturing version for to finalize its OS in its Lumia handsets. Microsoft Corporation (NYSE:NOK) and expected Lumia carrier AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) have indicated that Lumia phones would be available by early November – which would be consistent with the expected six-week lead time to finalize the Windows operating system in time for its October 26.

Whether this is going to be too late for Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) or Nokia Corporation (NYSE:NOK) to make headway in the smartphone market, which is already dominated by the Android operating system from Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) and Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), remains to be seen. But it is all about timing, when one considers all of the chatter that says Apple will have its new iPhone 5 on store shelves by the end of September – that means Apple would have a four- to six-week head start on Microsoft and Nokia in the holiday shopping season. It might have to come down to pricing for the Lumia and a relative lack of new features on the iPhone 5 to make for a favorable comparison.

Timing is everything. And what will be the timing for investors like hedge-fund manager Jim Simons of Renaissance Technologies to make their next aggressive move on Nokia Corporation (NYSE:NOK)?