Nokia Oyj chief executive Stephen Elop, seeking to stem market-share losses to cheap Android smartphones and unbranded handsets, will get his first opportunity tomorrow to win back Asian customers.

Elop will lay out the company’s strategy and show customers new models at Nokia Connection 2011 in Singapore, according to the company. It will be his first major speech in Asia since the former Microsoft Corp. executive became chief executive.

After spending his first months devising a plan to fight Apple Inc’s iPhone and phones equipped with Google Inc’s Android in Europe and the US, Elop may be turning his focus to fending off Samsung Electronics Co and ZTE Corp in Asia. At stake is a region that’s home to the world’s two biggest phone markets and where growth is projected to exceed 40 per cent over the next four years.

During his nine months as chief executive, Elop has announced more than 8,800 job cuts, including outsourcing agreements, and said the company will replace its Symbian smartphone software with Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 operating system to revive the world’s largest mobile phone maker by units.