Finnish phone giant Nokia is reportedly revising its mobile strategy for Windows Phone 8, in a bid to grab more smartphone market share.

According to the Financial Times (FT), the Espoo-based company is in talks with numerous European cellular operators, to strike deals that will see the operators having a “financial stake in the success of the range”.

This will enable the operators, such as France Telecom and Deutsche Telekom, to claim a share of the revenue for Nokia’s upcoming Windows Phone 8-based handsets, with Espoo obtaining dedicated support in exchange.

A deal of this kind marks a split from the Finnish firm’s current strategy of relying on getting smartphones in the hands of as many users as possible, by making the devices available across as many operator and retail channels as possible.

FT stated that an arrangement such as this is similar to the deal Apple made with US-based operator AT&T for the launch of the iPhone in 2007. Nokia might be hoping to drum up the same level of excitement for its new Windows Phone 8-operating devices as Apple managed to do for the iPhone, whilst also enticing operators to go all out when marketing the devices to customers since they have a financial stake in the success thereof.    

The publication also said that many European operators are keen to set up Microsoft’s Windows Phone OS as a third credible smartphone alternative to Apple’s iPhone and Android-running devices, most prominently represented by Samsung and its highly popular Galaxy S range.

Together Samsung and Apple dominate the smartphone landscape, as these firms were responsible for 55% of global smartphone shipments during Q1 2012, whilst managing to snap up over 90% of the profits within this sector.

For its part Nokia managed to double shipments of its Windows Phone Mango-based Lumia range for the last three quarters, from a million during Q4 2011, two million within Q1 2012 and four million in Q2 2012.   

In related news, Nokia recently released its interim financial report for Q2 2012, revealing net sales of €7.5 billion for the quarter, an increase from Q1 2012’s €7.4 billion. Unfortunately, the company made an operating loss of €826 million during its second fiscal quarter.