Nokia’s chief executive said this week that the Finland-based-based company will reenter the U.S. smartphone market in early 2012 with the introduction of devices running Microsoft Corp.’s Windows Phone for multiple U.S. carriers, according to media reports.

In an interview at Bloomberg’s headquarters in New York Wednesday, Chief Executive Officer Stephen Elop said the company’s “intention is to come back in the United States and grow significant share in this market.”

Bloomberg said Elop didn’t exclude entering the tablet-computer market, “though he said the company hasn’t announced plans to do so,” according to the report.

Last week, the phone maker unveiled its first two smartphones based on the Windows Phone operating system in a bid to stem falling sales.

The Nokia Lumia 800 is to go on sale in November in Britain, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain, Elop said at conference in London, adding that the estimated selling price excluding taxes and subsidies was 420 euros ($585 U.S. dollars).

“We are playing to win,” Elop said after conceding that the company had experienced “some difficult moments.”

Nokia produced better-than-anticipated sales in the third quarter, surpassing analysts’ predictions during what has been a transitional period, TechZone360 reported.

Revenue of 8.98 billion euros, or $12.2 billion, was slightly ahead of analysts’ average expectation of $12.16 billion, according to those surveyed by Thomson Reuters, reported CNET. The smartphone maker reported strong operating cash flow with net cash of EUR 5.1 billion at end of Q3 2011.

Elop was cautiously optimistic saying that while the company worked through a difficult transition period, Nokia will continue to pursue “steady improvement.”

“I am encouraged by the progress we made during Q3, while noting that there are still many important steps ahead in our journey of transformation. With each step, you will see us methodically implement our strategy, pursuing steady improvement through a period that has known transition risks, while also dealing with the various unexpected ups and downs that typify the dynamic nature of our industry,” Elop said in a prepared statement. “During the third quarter, we continued to take the action necessary to drive the structural changes required for Nokia’s long-term success.”