Why Nokia Will Give Apple A Run For Its iPhone Moola

Those who think Apple's got the smartphone industry by the proverbial short hairs should think again.

Yup, Steve Jobs & Company delivered a faster iPhone this month (at a high price) and they cut their one-year-old, second-generation handset (the iPhone 3G) to an affordable $99 for brand-new  AT&T subscribers, but they shouldn't discount the big, lurking dark horse inching closer to the US smartphone market every quarter.

We're talking Nokia, of course, the global leader in smartphones and mobile handsets. It may not be a major player in the US now, but it's been busy grabbing up every other marketplace.

At its Nokia Connection conference opening today in Singapore the mobile giant launched three new handsets, illustrating that Nokia is more than ready to push out 'the' next breakthrough smartphone for the US market when it is good and ready.

Right now, the company is more focused on dominating the Asian markets.

Here's what EVP and Chief Development Officer Mary McDowell said:

"Nokia envisions a world where people will be empowered to share and connect with what matters most to them through highly personalized and contextually-relevant solutions. The Asia Pacific market has been an extremely important region for Nokia over the years and remains hugely important to Nokia.  Asian consumers' eagerness to use technology makes this region a great place to introduce new devices and services. Singapore and many of its Southeast Asian neighbors represented here today will be among the first to take advantage of the future solutions Nokia intends to bring as we connect the planet so that everyone can participate."

First up is the Nokia E72 which Nokia calls a "comprehensive messaging solution" as it offers a  full QWERTY smartphone. Users can set up Nokia Messaging IM accounts and connect to current accounts including Yahoo! Messenger and Google Talk.

The second handset debut was an extension of Nokia's music push that began last year when the high-end Nokia 5800 XpressMusic device. The Nokia 5530 XpressMusic provides a touch interface and one-touch shortcuts to content and social networks, like Facebook and MySpace.

The third and final handset launched is the Nokia 3710 'fold,' which is a fancy word for flip-top phone.

Just as interesting, Nokia is now providing some users easy software access from handsets to its Ovi Store application front -- which is very Apple-like.

It seems obvious that Nokia is putting all the various pieces of the smartphone success puzzle -- easy functionality, great music capability, strong messaging and social networking capabilities and snazzy designs -- into place in markets all over except the US.

So, is there any doubt that the company is also developing the all-important product that provides all that and likely more, for the US market? No, there isn't.

I would hope it's not rushing to hit the market at this point, given the economy, and that it's taking its time determining which wireless carrier it can best partner with to make it happen.

One reason Nokia hasn't made a huge step in the US is that it hasn't wanted to kowtow to carriers that pretty much run the game in the smartphone industry. Carriers decide what a handset should have, the speed, the applications and even functions. That's the case for every handset maker, except for the deal AT&T made with Apple.

Nokia has never seemed comfortable with that arrangement. Maybe because that's not how it goes anywhere else in the world?

So it's just gotten busy pushing out innovative features, saturating the Asian and European markets with devices and offering up some to savvy US mobile enthusiasts willing to pay the much higher price (typically $400 to $600) that comes when no carrier is underwriting and subsidizing a handset marketing effort.

Yes, Nokia's revenues have taken a dip. The recession in the US, after all, isn't limited to the US, by any means.

But Nokia's increasing footprint and device advancements continue apace.

Nokia's got all the puzzle pieces to make a major, lasting smartphone splash. It's just a matter of time before it jumps into the pool. And I think it's going to be a very worthwhile wait.