ESPN's Windows Phone app will be exclusive to the Lumia through May of next year; Groupon's and AOL Entertainment's app are exclusive for six months from a summer 2012 debut; and the PGA tour's app will be exclusive to the Lumia for one year following launch. Nokia will also partner with Rovio and Electronic Arts to speed the availability of top games.

In addition to the partnerships and exclusive apps, Nokia says it has agreed to work with PayPal to port a version of its mobile app for Windows Phone, and with Time and Newsweek on mobile versions of their weekly publications. Even gets some development help from the Finnish company.

The Lumia line (and the Lumia 900 specifically) have become for consumers, and some of the best-selling models yet. That said, the phones have the same problem every other Windows Phone has: A lack of popular apps. About 82,000 apps for the platform, far less than the 600,000+ in both Google Play and the iTunes App Store.

With such a wide gap in app availability, Nokia's work to encourage developers to take a second look is sorely needed. But is it the right thing to do, and is this the beginning of Windows Phone fragmentation?