Nokia has high hopes for the release of Windows Phone 7 this year, but it has given us something to get busy with while waiting. The mobile giant introduced its MeeGo-powered N9 smartphone. The new device is stunningly beautiful, but knowing that Nokia’s core focus is actually Windows Phone 7, it’s hard to give this device more attention. I presume it’s not going to get a good deal of third-party developers either.

Hardware-wise, N9 is a sequel of the previous year’s N8. They might have different operating systems, but both are suffering the same setback, given Nokia’s shift of focus in OS. The N9 sports a 3.9-inch curved glass AMOLED display, which has pretty much occupied everything on the façade, and has a polycarbonate material for a case. Design-wise, it looks like a combo of N8 and Apple, while its operating system looks like a hybrid of Android and WebOS. It’s camera is still an 8-megapixel Carl Zeiss optics.

An optimum success for N9 is hard to anticipate. No matter how exquisite the device is, it’s operating system will always remain an experiment. Added by the fact that MeeGo failed to convince app developers to create around its netbooks and tablets, Nokia cannot solely rely on N9 for whole-hearted community support in today’s highly competitive mobile ecosystem. What everyone’s really waiting for is Windows Phone 7, and how it can compete against Android and iPhone.

Speaking of Windows Phone 7, Stephen Elop is confident that Nokia will ship the device this year, but only in small volumes. “We have shifted our organization,” Elop said, speaking at the Nokia Connections event in Singapore. “We have a new strategy and we are focused on delivering results.” The company first announced their shift of their mobile operating system resources into Windows territory, ditching Symbian and MeeGo, back in February. However, Symbian still accounts for virtually all of the company’s smartphone revenue this year, and likely, for next year as well. They even showed Symbian Anna, the latest update for the OS, running on N8. It has a number of improvements such as browsing and brighter icons.