AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) to help smartphone makers get back up on their feet – NOK, HTC

Nokia Corporation (ADR)(NYSE:NOK) was once one of the biggest makers of phones. Their phones were always in demand, and the Finnish company had been at the top of the market for quite a few years. But with the advent of the new smartphones, technological competition from everywhere, and the iconic brands which are taking over the market, Nokia has gotten into a rut in the market. It is no longer as popular as it used to be, although the company’s hopes are riding high on the new smartphone which they are about to release. And AT&T Inc.(NYSE:T) will be helping them by selling the phones exclusively, at least initially.

AT&T announced its decision to sell the new Nokia phones, on Thursday. The company said that it will be selling the Lumia 920, as well as the cheaper, Lumia 820. Nokia’s new, high-end smartphone is being powered by the Windows Phone 8 operating system. The demand for Nokia phones have gone down in the past few years, but AT&T as will as T-Mobile have been selling the earlier versions of the Nokia smartphones as well. AT&T said that the phone will be released in November, but the prices of the phones were not revealed in this announcement.

AT&T is also helping out HTC by selling their Windows Phone 8X, run by the same software. Microsoft has specially designed the Windows Phone 8 to get back into the foray of smartphones. Google’s operating systems, along with Apple’s own ones, have not left Microsoft with much space in the market, but the company is hopeful about the response to the new operating system which will be released along with the Nokia Lumia 920.

Both the companies have been struggling in regard to the smartphones business: One, with the hardware and the other with the software.  But both companies have their hopes pegged on the November release of the phone, and if they are lucky, they can dominate the holiday season sales rush as well.

AT&T’s shares have been going up recently.