You got your brand new Nokia Lumia smartphone! You rush home, open the box, charge up the phone and it hits you… The feeling that you have to move all your contacts, calendars and apps over from your old phone to your new brand new Lumia. That looks like a tedious job!

But, that was yesterday. Today, we have Welcome Home for Windows Phone: a truly innovative app from Markspace to help new Lumia owners migrate to their new phone. With Welcome Home, you just plug in your Lumia to your computer (Mac or PC, your choice) and the application handles moving your contacts and personal data – quickly and easily.

Welcome Home works for new Lumia customers coming from iPhone, Android and BlackBerry phones and will move your contacts, calendars, pictures, songs and videos from your old phone to Microsoft Live. But what about all those apps you have on your old phone? No worries there, either.

The Welcome Home application will scan your apps on your old phone and will produce a list of recommended apps with scannable QR codes for easy download.

So, if you’re an Evernote user on your Android phone, for example, you’ll get the QR code for Evernote. However, if there’s an app that doesn’t have an exact match in the Windows Marketplace, Welcome Home will provide an alternative. For example, if you’re a Pandora user – you’ll get a suggestion such as Radio Controlled from Windows Marketplace.

To get started with the Welcome Home application, download the application and simply plug in your phone via USB to your computer.

Step 1: Let it scan your data

Step 2: See your results

Step 3: See your apps recommendations and install the apps using the QR code.  To do this on your Lumia, from the homescreen, hit the magnifying glass in the lower right of the screen and touch the icon that looks like an eyeball. The code will scan and you can touch the link to be taken to the apps’ page in Marketplace.

Step 4: enter in your Live account credentials and hit Next.

Step 5: The data extracted from your old phone will be copied to your computer.

Step 6: Finally, using Zune or Windows Phone Connector for Mac, move your data onto your new phone.

Note: only DRM-free songs and videos will be copied from your old phone.

As you can see, Welcome Home for Windows Phone will make it possible for you to move your contacts, files and apps over to your new Lumia. Have you tried the application? What other tips would you have for new Lumia owners?

Photo credit: josemanuelerre