. Prices for new homes were higher in 50 mainland China cities in May compared with the prior month, versus 56 cities where prices rose in April, according to a gauge of price movements in 70 major cities published by the National Bureau of Statistics on its website. Of the cities where new-home prices rose, 27 showed a softening in the pace of gains compared to April, the bureau said. The May data also showed home prices fell in nine cities and were where unchanged in 11 TV sets. The project has faced setbacks, including Nokia's deal with Microsoft Corp. (MSFT), although the Finnish firm had said it would launch a MeeGo device in 2011. In February, Nokia signed a partnership with Microsoft to use the U.S. firm's Windows Phone software as its principal smartphone operating system, replacing its own Symbian software, which has been losing ground to Apple's iPhone and smartphones that run Google's Android. "I have increased confidence that we will launch our first device based on the Windows Phone platform later this year, and we (will) ship our products in volume in 2012," Elop said. Still, Nokia also said it planned to launch up to 10 new Symbian-based smartphones over the next 12 months, restating its commitment to its own software-based phones. In July, the company said it would start shipping Nokia N8s, E7s, C7s and C6-01s with the new Symbian Anna software update. "There are hundreds of millions of people enjoying Symbian today, and we will continue to support our customers and operators through 2016, with new software updates, maintenance, customer care and services," Elop said. Nokia also unveiled three new "affordable" devices--the Nokia C2-02, Nokia C2-O3 and Nokia C2-06. The firm said they include dual and single SIM card options. "Smartphones clearly represent an important part of Nokia's business, but the reality is that 90% of the world does not have or cannot afford a smartphone or a high-end device," Elop said. The comments come as the world's biggest handset maker by shipments struggles under intense pressure from competitors like Apple Inc. (AAPL), which have in recent years taken market share away from Nokia while pulling ahead in the lucrative and fast-growing smartphone business. Nokia has seen its leading share in smartphones decline sharply as Apple and Google Inc. (GOOG) have developed software that consumers prefer. In the first quarter, Apple overtook Nokia for the first time to become the world's largest handset vendor by revenue, generating $11.9 billion of handset revenue compared with Nokia's $9.4 billion, according to consultancy Strategy A