Nokia is now shipping the unlocked E63 smartphone to the U.S. market, aiming to cash in on the growing craze of smartphones among American phone owners.
"People want a rich experience when using messaging, social networks and the Internet -- and with the Nokia E63 you can enjoy the Web, update your status, and work as much -- or as little -- as you like," Nokia North America VP for retail sales Alessandro Lamanna said in a statement.
The phone has a full QWERTY keyboard, runs Symbian S60, 2-megapixel camera, WiFi, Bluetooth 2.0, Microsoft Exchange support, and has POP/IMAP e-mail. It has a 2.3" QVGA screen and 110MB of internal memory, along with a microSD slot for additional storage.
Nokia also is throwing in a 12-month subscription to the Files on Ovi service, which has 1GB of online storage available for PC and mobile users.
The unlocked phone will cost $279, but consumers will have to pick a wireless provider to use the phone with. The phone should be especially popular among AT&T or T-Mobile, as both are GSM providers that can be utilized wtih this device.
Nokia is the world's leading handset maker, extremely popular in Europe, but has been unable to bring over a smartphone to the United States that retailers like. Specifically, the smartphone market has been traditionally ruled by RIM's Blackberry, and has lost marketshare to the Apple iPhone -- though QWERTY keyboard smartphone market is still ruled by Blackberry.
Nokia's past smartphone attempts in the United States have effectively crashed and burned, so it'll be extremely interesting to see how this one performs in the U.S. market.
