Verizon Wireless (NYSE:VZ) confirmed it will exclusively launch the high-end Nokia (NYSE:NOK) Lumia 928 Windows Phone later this month. The Lumia 928 will be available May 16 for $99.99 after $50 mail-in-rebate with a two-year contract. As The Verge notes, the 928 is similar in many respects to the Lumia 920 that AT&T Mobility (NYSE:T) launched late last year, but it sports a loudspeaker and three high-audio-amplitude-capture microphones, letting consumers record and play back the sound all the way up to 140db--the sound equivalent of an airplane taking off. For Nokia, getting a "hero" device at Verizon is a major step in boosting its profile in the U.S. market as tries to regain market share using Microsoft's (NASDAQ:MSFT) Windows Phone platform. The Lumia 928, if marketed heavily, could help Nokia achieve that goal, since it sports numerous high-end features as well as exclusive Nokia apps, including its Here location platform and camera apps such as Smart Shoot, Cinemagraph, Panorama, and Photobeamer. The gadget sports a 4.5 inch HD OLED screen, 1.5 GHz dual-core Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM) Snapdragon processor and an 8.7-megapixel camera with Nokia's PureView technology and optical image stabilization, which helps deliver higher-quality pictures and jitter-free HD video. Release
