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Verizon, Nokia Teaming Up On LTE Touch Phone: Report

Nokia and long-time nemesis Qualcomm recently buried the hatchet and announced plans to work together on devices for the U.S. market. With Verizon's commitment to deploy LTE by the end of 2009, it will need some hardware that can access the new 4G network. According to reports, that device will come from Nokia and will be touch-enabled.

Citing people "familiar with the matter", TheStreet.com is reporting that Nokia and Verizon are working together to bring one of the first LTE devices to market later this year. Not only will this device have LTE, it also will have a touch screen. Could this be the start of a beautiful friendship?

Nokia has had little success in the U.S. market the past few years, despite its solid lineup of feature-rich phones. Nokia once held close to 50% of the U.S. market, and now finds itself hovering below 10%. What happened? Nokia refused to adapt to the U.S. carrier's demands on features and instead released phones for the world over. This hasn't worked out. Nokia hoped that people would be willing to pay full price for unlocked devices and use them on the networks operated by AT&T and T-Mobile. Some people have done this, but not in the numbers Nokia needs to have a solid presence.

Now, things are different. Qualcomm and Nokia settled their patent licensing issues recently and went so far as to announce a new partnership to make chipsets and devices for the North American market. That's a huge change for both companies. Considering how close Qualcomm and Verizon are, it isn't a big leap to conclude that Nokia and Verizon may re-kindle their relationship.

With both firms banking on LTE as their future networking technology, it's now rumored that Nokia, Verizon, and likely Qualcomm are all plotting to launch an LTE device later this year when Verizon fires up its first LTE markets.

If Nokia executes the device properly (unlike the 5800 NAM), it could make big waves in the United States, especially if it includes the right mix of user interface tweaks and media capabilities. We all know that Nokia can make great devices. Will it finally bring one to the U.S. first?

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