Nokia to bring N86 to U.S. market

Nokia has announced it will bring its popular N86 8MP phone to the U.S. market sometime in the next few weeks, after the phone’s successful debut in Europe earlier this summer.

The 8MP camera uses the Symbian S60 operating system, has a dual slider design with a numerical keypad, and an AM-OLED screen that provides a 320×240 resolution. 

Most notably, of course, is the 8 megapixel camera — which was developed with the help of Carl Zeiss — offering a mechanical shutter able to take pictures at high speeds.  Every image taken can be easily geotagged and then posted to Flickr or Nokia’s online Ovi service.

The phone will be available to U.S. shoppers for $558 and will be available through Nokia Flagship Stores and NokiaUSA.com.  If you’re wondering why the price tag  is so high, it’s because no U.S. carriers have agreed to subsidize the phone, although it’s possible a carrier will pick up the phone later.

Nokia officially introduced the phone earlier in the year, though the high price originally scared some consumers  away.  However, the ability to take high-quality images and easily share them has led to good sales in Europe, but it will be interesting to see if U.S. consumers are willing to pay such a high price for the device.

Nokia has struggled to offer compelling phones to the U.S. market, falling behind the likes of Research In Motion, Apple, and other companies developing smartphones.  Although the company has at least one smartphone for the U.S. market, it hopes to gain success by offering a solid camera phone.

If the phone begins to sell well on the U.S. market, expect at least one carrier to begin to offer the phone for a lower price with a two-year phone contract.