It’s anticipated Nokia will use the event, which opens in Stuttgart in just over 12 hours time, to show off a range of new devices including a lightweight notebook PC and a touch-screen smart phone running the new Maemo 5 operating system.

However the event will open in the shadow of news that respected financial firm Credit Suisse has cut its rating of Nokia from ‘outperform’ to ‘underperform’. The firm believes Nokia is likely to continue to lose ground in the smartphone market to rivals such as Apple and RIM.

Nokia has attracted criticism from many industry watchers for not producing a device that can go head-to-head with Apple’s successful iPhone. While it now has a number of touch-screen phones in its portfolio, Nokia has been unable to reign in the enthusiasm among phone buyers for the Apple devices.

In something of a pre-emptive move, Nokia decided to pre-announce its planned foray into notebook-style mobile computing late last month. The Nokia Booklet 3G will have its first public outing in Stuttgart and early reaction will be closely watched by the company.

Nokia claims the Microsoft Windows-based Booklet 3G will give 12 hours of battery life and weigh in at 1.25kg. It will also have a range of connectivity options including 3G/HSPA and Wi-Fi.

The second device that will be closely examined is the new Maemo-powered N900 smartphone. Nokia says inspiration for the device came from its earlier internet tablets which provided an easy-to-use web browsing facility.

The N900 has been designed to allow users to run multiple applications concurrently, making it more like a mobile computer than a mobile phone handset.