Stefan Mileschin

Samsung has managed to do something unexpected and become the first handset maker to announce a Windows 8 phone.

The move should scare Nokia which had hoped it would be the only one to release such a phone, and also Apple which hoped that if Samsung stuck with Android it could sue the company into oblivion.

According to Reuters, the announcement comes just days before Nokia announces its launch of a Windows phone.

Samsung only made a brief announcement at Berlin electronics show IFA. Word on the street is that some smartphone makers are looking at Microsoft as an insurance policy against Android-based phones getting caned by Apple's legal team.

The change in the legal environment means that Samsung will be sticking more resources into Windows and diversify a little.

But that is bad news for Nokia which is betting the farm on its new Lumia line of smartphones using Windows Phone 8. It had hoped that by showing loyalty to Microsoft it might get ahead and not have too much initial competition.

However with Samsung's ATIV S in play around the same time, not only will it have to face competition but it will also have to deal with cheaper massed sales from a rival which knows a lot about smartphones.

Samsung's ATIV S Windows phone sports a high-end 4.8-inch display, Corning "Gorilla" glass, and an 8-megapixel rear camera and 1.9-megapixel front-facing camera. A camera like that does give Nokia a chance. If it can come up with a 40 megapixel or possibly 20 megapixel camera then it might steal the march on Samsung.

Nokia would not be too pleased with Microsoft, but it is possible that the Vole has done its deal to assuage concerns that Microsoft will favour Nokia.

Analyst Avi Greengart claimed that Samsung was allowed to be the first to announce is Microsoft's backhanded way of letting other vendors know that Nokia is not getting special treatment.

http://news.techeye.net/mobile/samsu...-windows-phone