This Oct. 17, 2012, photo, shows a Verizon Wireless sign at a Little Rock, Ark.Verizon Wireless, the largest cellphone carrier in the U.S., said Monday, Oct. 29, 2012, it will sell a Nokia phone for the first time in years, lending support to the embattled Finnish company's turnaround effort. (AP Photo/Danny Johnston)

(AP)—Verizon Wireless, the largest cellphone carrier in the U.S., said Monday it will sell a Nokia phone for the first time in years, lending support to the embattled Finnish company's turnaround effort.

Even though it was, until recently, the world's largest maker of phones, Nokia has been largely absent from the U.S. market for many years. Its early smartphones never caught on in the country, and it was virtually shut out once the iPhone launched in 2007.

Verizon said it will be the only carrier to sell the Lumia 822, part of Nokia Corp.'s lineup of smartphones based on Microsoft's Windows software. The company didn't provide the launch date or price.

Analysts see the new Windows smartphones as Nokia's last chance to arrest its sales slide, but it's hampered by the low uptake of Windows phones in general—Microsoft's market share in smartphones is minuscule compared to Google Inc., with its Android software, and Apple Inc.

Verizon Wireless a joint venture of Verizon Communications Inc. and Vodafone Group PLC of Britain.

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