BERLIN — When Stephen Elop, the chief executive of Nokia, introduces the company’s first phones bearing Microsoft Windows Phone software Wednesday, he will probably be met with equal parts good will and skepticism.

On the one hand, many mobile operators are pulling for Nokia and Microsoft to succeed, creating a credible third smartphone lineup that they can use to leverage better terms from Google and Apple, which in four years have taken over the high-end mobile business.

On the other, the partnership with Microsoft was struck while Nokia, the erstwhile market leader, was under duress, undertaking an 18 percent cut to its work force. The company absorbed combined losses of €436 million, or $597 million, in the second and third quarters.

Worst of all, since the deal was made in February, Nokia has had to tread water as engineers combined the companies’ smartphone technologies, allowing Google, Apple and Samsung to secure their positions in the pecking order.