By the end of the year 2004 the future for Nokia, world's leading mobile phone manufacturer, was looking…well not so bright! All its competitors were gaining lead on it and its handsets were trashed by critics as well as public for being monotonously designed and being low on technological quotient. Then came the announcement of Nokia's N-series devices in the Q1 of 2005 (there or thereabout) and the nightmare became a fairytale for Nokia.

Nokia's N-series mobile phones, beginning with the N70, N90 & N91, became class leaders and are still regarded in the league of first amongst equals in the top-end of mobile phone market. The N70 that is equipped with dual cameras (2MP and VGA video calling camera), 3G networking and is based on a Symbian Series 60 OS.

But despite all this it is regarded as a relative lightweight (in terms of specifications) when compared to the rest of N-series devices! This fact is enough to highlight the power that the higher N-series phones like Nokia N90 and N91 wield! They not only developed their in house products but also bought technologies like Carl Zeiss optics from outside that made them the leading supplier of digital cameras in the first quarters of 2006!

So you have the N90 that flaunts its 2 megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss optics whereas the N91, essentially a music phone, gives the user a huge memory reservoir with the 4GB internal hard disk in addition to its fabulous 2 megapixel camera. These feature rich handsets also help Nokia its 'candybar only' image! So the N91 comes with a totally unique design that is yet to be defined by a single adjective whereas the N90 is a revelation with its twisting camera and swirling screen!

The N93 that came after these three handsets have done the ground work for its launch and it has taken off in a manner that was unforeseen! Its 3.2 megapixel camera, with optical zoom and Carl Zeiss optics makes it a really powerful imaging device. It is equipped with 30 fps VGA-resolution video recording capability and is the most advanced camera phone from Nokia till date. Needless to say it is a smart phone that also incorporates direct TV out connectivity, 2GB SD card storage, WLAN, 3G, EDGE and uses the Symbian S60 platform.

Nokia N95 (with a 5 megapixel camera) and Nokia N75 are supposed to be Nokia's flagship products in 2007 but gizmo freaks all over the planet are talking in hush-hush voices about the launch of N97 (??) but lets not get carried away with this exciting rumour. The fact remains that the N series has literally revived the fortunes of Nokia and made it grow rapidly in the so called mature western markets like UK, US and rest of Europe.

Let's not talk about the situation in India, China and Brazil as that is playground for all the mobile manufacturers and everyone can have their share of the pie in these growing markets! But to expand in the cut throat competition of European and American markets Nokia has to be on its toes. Brands like Sony Ericsson and Samsung are always coming up with better handsets with each passing day and to better their efforts Nokia has to go upwards and keep producing rabbits out of their hats! Even coming up with the rumoured Nokia N97 will do!