Nokia will unveil the 7200 ‘clam-shell’ model, the 6230 camera phone and the 6820 keyboard at its Mobile Internet Conference in Nice, France, on Tuesday 28 October.

Nokia has been reluctant to stamp an operator’s brand on its phones, but the new models feature opportunities for co-branding by providing places operators’ logos on the new mobiles. Consumers would also be able to access carrier-specific services with special buttons.

Other phone manufacturers, such as Motorola [MOT], have no qualms about co-branding and this has added to the pressure on Nokia to follow suit or risk losing business.

Co-branding and special buttons have helped Japan’s Sharp [6753.T] become the most popular phone maker for Vodafone’s [VOD.L] Live! service.

In Europe, Vodafone Live! T-Mobile’s [DTEGn.DE] T-zones and Orange’s [ORA.PA] signature phones show that operators want models tailored to their network. In Japan and the United States this was already a trend.

The new clamshell model is the company’s first response to a growing number of foldaway models that are popular in Asia and the United States.

In contrast to all-silver designs from Asian vendors, which Nokia in the past has dismissed, its 7200 folding model is part covered in what appears to be printed beige textile.

All the new phones are for GSM networks, which are used around the world. Some 70% of all mobile phone users are on a GSM network. Analysts said this was remarkable because Nokia needed foldaway designs to compete in the CDMA markets of the Americas and parts of Asia. CDMA is GSM’s smaller rival.

South Korea’s Samsung Electronics [05930.KS], although only fourth worldwide, is the world’s largest CDMA cell phone maker and produces almost exclusively foldaway models for these networks.

Nokia’s 6230 and 6820 models will be ready to work on the EDGE standard, which is the successor of GPRS and which gives GSM networks faster and more efficient connections for data applications such as video and picture messaging.

EDGE will first be used by GSM operators in the United States and Eastern Europe, two of Nokia’s growth markets.