Nokia CEO Stephen Elop has stated that work has begun on its first Windows Phone 7 smartphone. Elop has announced that he’s hoping to begin manufacturing the first Windows Phone handset by the end of the year with a hopeful launch date of early 2012.

Nokia’s recent filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission revealed that Nokia and Microsoft’s strategic partnership has yet to be finalized. Nokia claims in the document that the transition to Windows Phone as its “primary smartphone platform” will take “about two years.” Nokia said recently that it plans to ship Windows Phone branded devices to developers when they are available later this year. Nokia is currently engineering Windows Phone devices and is expected to wait for “Mango”, the next version of Windows Phone, until it unveils them later this year. “Mango”, the codename for what will likely be named Windows Phone 7.5, is currently in the early beta stages at Microsoft. The software giant revealed a number of new features in February that will ship as part of its Windows Phone point release later this year. Nokia is reportedly waiting for multitasking, IE9 mobile and others before it releases its first Windows Phone device.

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