Nokia Delays Flagship E7 Phone

Nokia is delaying its new E7 phone until early 2011.
By James Rogers ,

NEW YORK (

TheStreet

) --

Nokia

(NOK) - Get Report

is delaying its new

flagship E7 phone

. The device, seen as a key weapon in the phone giant's fight to retain its worldwide market share lead, is now expected to ship in early 2011.

Initially, Nokia scheduled a December launch for the Symbian phone, according to

Reuters

. The delay could be a setback for Nokia, which continues to

shed smartphone OS market share

thanks to the growth of

Apple

(AAPL) - Get Report

and

Google

(GOOG) - Get Report

Android-running phones sold by companies like

Samsung

.

"To ensure the best possible user experience on the Nokia E7, we have decided to begin shipping it in early 2011," a Nokia spokeswoman confirmed in an email to

TheStreet

. She didn't provide additional details about the device's status.

This isn't the first Nokia smartphone launch to be delayed. Earlier this year, the company pushed back the ship date of its N8 phone from spring to fall.

It's been a tough year for Nokia, which recently

announced plans to cut staff

and said it lost more share in

the third quarter

as a result of parts shortages. According to research firm Gartner, Nokia's Symbian OS market share dropped from 44.6% to 36.6% over the summer quarter.

In September, Nokia also

replaced CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo

with Steve Elop, the head of

Microsoft's

(MSFT) - Get Report

business services.

Nokia's stock dipped 9 cents to $9.87 in morning trading Tuesday.

--Written by James Rogers in New York.

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http://twitter.com/jamesjrogers

.

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