Are Nokia (NOK), Microsoft (MSFT) Better Bets than Apple Inc.(NASDAQ:AAPL) now?

Who will be quicker on the draw? Nokia Corporation (ADR)(NYSE:NOK), Microsoft Corporation(NASDAQ:MSFT) or Apple?

It looks like the hitherto slow-moving Finnish handset maker and the Redmond-based software giant will beat Apple Inc.(NASDAQ:AAPL) to it.

They are both working overtime to get their products in the market and give Apple a run for its money.

Apple is widely expected to launch its iPhone 5 on September 12.

Nokia is expected to release its new smartphone on September 5, running on Windows 8 operating software. Microsoft has set October 26 as the official launch date of its Windows 8 software.

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With the Lumia series of phones, Nokia seems to have got back some of the market share it had lost to Apple and Samsung.

Lumia 900 was declared almost comparable with the iPhone and even surpassing it in certain features such as advanced LTE capability. It was definitely better than Android-based phones.

The drawback to the Lumia came when Microsoft declared that the Lumias could not be upgraded to Windows 8, from the Windows 7.5 that they currently run on. That has put a cap on the sales of the company since customers did not like to be stuck with a phone that had no future.

Nokia's imminent release of a new smartphone comes at the right time for the company.

Nokia's shares reflect the new-found optimism and activity in the company. Its shares have rising for the past couple of months. On Tuesday, its American Depositary Shares were trading up 2.9 percent at $2.83 in mid-morning trades on the NYSE.

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Despite the fact that Windows Mango has not really done anything to set the industry on fire Nokia has expressed its intention to stick with Microsoft's operating system, junking its own Symbian in favour of that.

For investors, Nokia is a better bet than Apple. The Cupertino-based company has already touched record highs on the stock markets and all the positives have already been factored in. Its upsides are limited.

Nokia still has the potential to be a 10 bagger, especially since not much is known about what kind of phone it plans to unveil.