Nokia Lumia 822 and HTC 8X said to launch November 8th from Verizon

Verizon hasn't been known as the place to buy Windows Phone handsets, but the nation's largest carrier is making a strong effort to get involved with Windows Phone 8. A tipster sent a picture of the HTC 8X in 'California Blue' and the Nokia Lumia 822 in white to Point Maza. As you can see in the photo, both models were wearing the carrier's name. For the latter phone, that's a given since the Nokia Lumia 822 is a Verizon exclusive.

While this might all be fascinating to you, we're sure that you are going to want the meat and potatoes information. The recent leak of Big Red's MAP listapparently had the pricing correct as the aforementioned tipster confirmed that the Nokia Lumia 822 will be priced at $99.99 and the HTC 8X will cost $199.99, both with the obligatory two-year contract. He also says to expect the pair to launch via Verizon on November 8th. That is quite a few days earlier than the MAP list called for, which should make Windows Phone fans on Verizon (the both of you) quite happy.

Lastly, the tipster says that Verizon will be offering for free (most likely with a signed contract, of course) some mysterious Samsung manufactured Windows Phone 8 device. This is not the Samsung ATIV S but some other model that has not yet been seen by the public. It all sounds interesting and confirms Verizon's push into Windows Phone 8. All that is left is for Verizon to make the necessary announcements. With AT&T rumored to be pushing back its launch of the Nokia Lumia 920 from November 4th to November 11th, we wonder if this move gave Verizon the impetus to step in front of its rival with an earlier launch of its Windows Phone 8 models.

The HTC 8X (L) and the Nokia Lumia 822 followed by the back of the HTC model