Nokia says shipping new Lumia smartphones this week

HELSINKI (Reuters) - Finnish phone maker Nokia said its new Lumia smartphones, key to the company's hopes for recovery, will begin to appear in some European markets this week.

Nokia late on Monday said its high-end Lumia 820 and 920 phones, which will run on Microsoft's Windows Phone 8 software, will this week reach first operators and retail outlets in France and Britain and later in Russia and Germany as well as other select markets.

In the United States, AT&T will start selling the devices in early November. Verizon Wireless will begin selling Lumia 822 and T-Mobile will offer Lumia 810, Nokia said.

(Reporting By Helsinki newsroom; Editing by Richard Pullin)