The Financial Times reports Nokia might "rip up its traditional mass marketing strategy" once it reveals its latest Windows Phone 8 handset-- with exclusive partnerships with European operators.
Operators reportedly in talks with Nokia include France Telecom and Deutsche Telekom (with UK joint venture Everything Everywhere), but such talks are "still exploratory" and nothing is confirmed as yet.
Nokia already has a similar fairly successful exclusive sales agreement in the US with AT&T.
Such an approach (creating dedicated support while ditching retailers) represents a change from the typical Nokia sales strategy, where all channels sell as many phones as possible.
One of the FT's sources says Nokia will even offer a financial stake in the success of the range to the operator of choice.
Are Nokia's Window Phone smartphones the handsets of customer choice? While Lumia Q2 2012 sales figures surprised the company (reaching million units), customers still appear to prefer Apple and Samsung offerings.
