Microsoft (MSFT) Windows 8 Nokia (NOK) smartphone: Apple (APPL) iPhone, Android competition?

The smartphone war has basically been the iPhone versus others using Android.

Together, they control nearly 85 percent of the market.

Now Microsoft hopes to dent that dominance.

Its new Windows 8 operating system powers a new line of smartphones being unveiled by Nokia, a tech company in need of a boost.

"It's lost more than 90 percent of its value over the past five years, and the reason is, it hasn't had a hit phone in the smartphone age. That's what they hope this phone will be," says CNBC tech correspondent Jon Fortt.

Fortt says with the market largely saturated in the U.S., Nokia and Microsoft are not after brand new smartphone users, but ones they can lure from the competition with new features such as wireless charging.

"The lowest hanging fruit is the former Blackberry customer, and the Android customer. Nokia's got to hope they can pick off some of those people," Fortt says.

Last week Samsung actually beat Nokia to the punch, introducing the very first Windows 8
smartphone.

Other companies are expected to join the Windows 8 parade as they try to make what has been a two-way battle a three-sided one.

As a prelude to unveiling its new smartphones Nokia announced Tuesday that it would
offer a free internet radio service to its Lumia smartphones.

It will feature pre-arranged and customizable playlists without advertisements or the need for a subscription.