I'm not sure if it was Nokia themselves or someone very close to them, that stated the W7 and W8 were to be released later this year with 12 WP7 devices coming in 2012.
Are you referring to Eldar Murtazin? Eldar's info is *usually* solid. This time, I'm not so sure. More importantly, he's been a thorn at Nokia's side for a while now. And Nokia has been working on rectifying the information leaks. Anway...
Nokia is working on a multitude of WP7 phones for markets around the world. The U.S. will receive a couple or a few of them.
As to when they will launch, I'll throw out some hints...
1- Microsoft is ramping up and hiring LTE engineers right now:
Job post confirms LTE Windows Phones on the way
2- when OEMs submit phones to AT&T, they go through 4-6 months of carrier testing (granted, AT&T's process and procedure is strict and antiquated). This is on top of OEM testing.
If anything, we *might* see one Nokia WP7 phone by EOY, but I would not be overly confident about it.
Michael.