Not long after "leaking" Nokia's first Windows smartphone, codenamed "Sea Ray," CEO Stephen Elop told a Finnish newspaper that even if the new MeeGo-based N9, launched the day before, succeeds, it will be Nokia's last device on the Meego operating system.

"In Elop's words, there is no returning to MeeGo, even if the N9 turns out to be a hit," wrote the Finnish daily, the Helsingin Sanomat.

On Thursday, Elop stirred the blogosphere when he teased what he called the first Nokia Windows device, which is rumored to be launching this fall.

Unfortunately it left a sour taste in the mouths of MeeGo fans, most of whom are passionate, long-time Nokia users and developers. In February Elop, who joined Nokia from Microsoft in 2008, announced a billion-dollar agreement with Microsoft that puts the Windows Phone 7 operating system in Nokia handsets; Nokia's own Symbian and MeeGo operating systems would be relegated to "science projects."

"I have taken part in the conversations with the teleoperators and I have been part of the consumer test groups. The feedback has been extremely positive and I am sure that the Windows Phone system will be a great success", Elop says of the strategic partnership announced with microsoft in February of this year.

Elop desperately needs Nokia's recent partnership with Microsoft, which fills Nokia handsets with Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 operating system, to succeed. He faces lowered sales targets for the rest of the year, rumors of a Nokia selloff, layoffs in the thousands, and alienation by Nokia's most loyal followers.

In the same interview Elop said he was "sure" upcoming Nokia Windows phones would be a "great success."

"I understand completely that the investors want to see the results of our new strategy in their full glory. This will take some time, but once we are in a position to introduce the results of our strategy, I am sure the doubts will disperse," he said.

(Source: news.yahoo.com)