Nokia innovation exec on Windows Phone: “We’re playing to win.”

At VentureBeat’s Mobile Summit event today, very few panelists mentioned the impact that Windows Phone was having in the mobile world. But that clearly changed the minute Nokia exec Hans-Peter Brøndmo got on stage to chat about the future of the company and its crazy 41-megapixel camera-phone.

Nokia bet the company on Microsoft’s Windows Phone OS back in February 2011 and begrudgingly gave up on its Symbian OS. A year later, Nokia is now the top manufacturer of Windows Phones and is working heavily with Microsoft and carriers to get units in the hands of consumers. Its quite-good Lumia 900 phone will land on AT&T on Sunday for just $99 with some features the iPhone 4S doesn’t have, including 4G LTE connectivity.

Brøndmo, Nokia’s “head of concepting and innovation”, who is based in San Francisco, first talked about the 808 PureView device that has a 41-megapixel camera. That phone does not include the Windows Phone OS, but it is stunning that a phone can pack in so much photographic power, and that tech will no doubt move to Windows Phone in the near future. For an example, Brøndmo showed photos taken on plane over Greenland and you could see marvelous levels of detail on the mountains below.

“We’re trying to get [the PureView] to market as fast as possible,” Brøndmo said. “We want people to use it. I was just talking with a famous photographer … and he is seeing this as a game changer. He even bought Nokia stock.”

The conversation quickly turned to the future of the company and Windows Phone. Brøndmo said Nokia and Microsoft have a deep partnership and are doing everything they can think of to create a “third ecosystem” outside of iOS and Android.

“This industry is changing very fast and as noted earlier, Google and Apple would not be mentioned here four years ago,” Brøndmo said. “We can’t flaunt a half million apps yet, but there is nothing I can’t find on this phone that I need today.”

With AT&T pushing the Lumia 900 smartphone here in the U.S. and tons of other carriers pushing the new Windows Phones around the world, Brøndmo said the company would make a huge comeback.

“We’re playing to win,” Brøndmo said. “This a global market and a global stage. We have a good mix of cultural perspectives and an incredible opportunity to come back. We’ll have a great competitive marketplace.”