Nokia says "interesting" launch due

BARCELONA (Reuters) - Nokia, the world's largest cellphone maker, will unveil an "interesting" phone to strengthen its product and service offerings later on Tuesday, a company official said late on Monday.

"There's going to be some interesting hardware," said Udo Szabo, a senior manager for Nokia's service business, in a speech at a Mobile Monday industry networking event.

Analysts expect Nokia to unveil new smartphones at the annual Nokia World media and industry conference in Barcelona on Tuesday. The expected launch has created a buzz on the Internet, but unlike many other mobile phone announcements no pictures of the new products have been leaked.

Nokia added on Monday also a countdown timer to the Internet page for Nokia World, something which has in the past indicated company's major announcements.

(Reporting by Tarmo Virki, editing by Richard Chang)