Nokia's Lumia 610 coming to Europe with NFC in Q3 2012

Shrugging off its disappointing first quarter performance, Nokia has announced its soon to be launched Lumia 610 will be the first Windows Phone to sport near-field communication.

The Finnish giant's budget handset, which was unveiled for Europe during Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, will come with NFC technology built in, allowing the handset to support mobile payments from Visa and MasterCard.

Users will also be able to pair with NFC accessories, such as speakers and headsets, with a single tap of the phone.

Near, far, wherever you are

"The Lumia 610 is the most affordable smartphone in the Lumia range, making it the perfect introduction to both Windows Phone and NFC for a younger, broader audience," said Nokia on its Conversations blog.

"On the technical side, Nokia did this by adding an NFC software stack on top of the Windows Phone platform. The necessary NFC hardware was added into this version of the Lumia 610."

Despite not packing quite the same punch as both the Lumia 800 and Lumia 900 - the phone coming with 256MB of RAM and a slower processor - Nokia says the Lumia 610 is intentionally aimed a "younger, boarder audience".

Indeed, it's expected the handset will launch with an RRP of around €189 when it rolls out exclusively on Orange in Europe in Q3 2012. 

Life on Lumia

Nokia's Lumia range as a whole was noted as the one highlight in the firm's latest financial advisory for the first half of 2012, with range-wide sales of 2 million accounting for 17 percent of the 12 million smartphones Nokia sold throughout Q1.

Moving forward, the firm says it will increase investments in Lumia to further its success in the market.

Meanwhile, NFC is expected to appear in the upcoming Windows Phone Apollo update later in 2012.

[source: Nokia]