Underlining its commitment to its Indian consumers, Nokia today announced the launch of the much awaited Nokia Lumia family of smartphones based on Windows Phone in the country. The Nokia Lumia 800 and Nokia Lumia 710 will be available in select retail stores across key cities and towns in mid-December. This announcement follows close on the heels of the global unveiling of the devices last month at Nokia World, the company’s annual event for customers, partners and developers. Both devices will be available for pre-order starting early December.

The stunningly social Nokia Lumia 800 brings content to life with head-turning design, familiar Nokia elements, such as leading imaging capabilities and new signature experiences. It also offers Nokia’s best social and Internet performance with one-touch social network accesses, easy grouping of contacts, integrated communication threads and Internet Explorer 9. The Nokia Lumia 710 is smartphone that delivers excellent performance and a wide array of functionality. Colorful and compact, it can be personalized with interchangeable back covers and thousands of apps.

Speaking at the launch, D Shivakumar, Managing Director, Nokia India, said, “Our announcement today demonstrates remarkable progress that we have made as a company against our new strategy announced in February 2011. It signals our intent and agility. It also reflects our commitment to Indian consumers in bringing to them our latest in smartphones. Over the past few months, we have been gearing up the ecosystem for the Nokia Lumia family in India and today we have in place strong operator partnerships, an all-new retail look and a ready developer ecosystem delivering rich content to make the Nokia Lumia experience a truly amazing one for Indian consumers.”

“Consumer research shows that Nokia Lumia offers the only truly differentiated experience in smartphones and we are enhancing that with signature Nokia capabilities. The Lumia family, on the back of strong Symbian enhancements in Belle, positions us strongly to consolidate our lead in the Indian smartphone market,” he further added.

Also present at the launch, Bhaskar Paramanik, Chairman, Microsoft India, said, “We are very excited about the unveiling of the first Windows Phone based Nokia Lumia smartphones in India. They further strengthen the Windows Phone promise of making smartphones more people centric. The Nokia Lumia devices are a powerful combination of Microsoft and Nokia’s core assets and deliver new experiences through the integration of service assets across location, search, entertainment, social, advertising and commerce.”