Nokia and Qualcomm have announced a partnership to develop advanced UMTS S60 mobile devices for North America market. The devices will be based on Qualcomm’s MSM7xxx-series and MSM8xxx-series chipsets and expected to launch in mid-2010.

Kai Oistamo, an Nokia exec,  said, they are very pleased to be in discussions with Qualcomm around designing mobile devices that can benefit from the high level of integration found on MSM chipsets.

According to mobile industry professional Sascha Segan, this news doesn’t necessarily mean we’ll see Nokia CDMA handsets; more likely, Nokia will use Qualcomm as a door-opener to make connections with the US carriers, who traditionally have avoided the S60 platform.  While Nokia are yet to make in-roads with US operators, Qualcomm is a trusted voice in the North American mobile industry.

[via SlashGear]