Nokia prunes Lumia 900 price
Upfront costs Yanked in half
Nokia has cut the price of its Lumia 900 smartphone, halving the handset's upfront cost when punters sign up for a new contract in the US.
Barely three months have passed since the Windows 7 phone was launched in the States, but after recent revelations that the Lumia 900 will never see a Windows 8 upgrade, the handset is now half price. It'll cost you $50 (£32) with a two-year contract, down from $100.
Although the Lumia 900 took longer to reach the shores of Blighty and was only released towards the end of May, we'd like to think the US price cuts will have a knock-on effect here too.
We asked Nokia to clarify and were told that as pricing is "part of commercial agreements with its customers", further cuts aren't something the firm will comment on.
Nokia's declining fortunes show little sign of slowing, as analysts claim Windows Phone 7 has insignificant traction.
Consumers choosing to wait for Microsoft's next major mobile OS release will hinder short-term Lumia shipments, said broker Sanford C. Bernstein's Pierre Ferragu. And apparently any material success of Windows 8 will attract increased competition from the likes of HTC and Samsung anyway.
Grim times ahead for the Finnish firm, then. Perhaps Batman can't save Nokia after all. ®
COMMENTS
What a load of old bollocks!
Saw this headline in one of the papers, I expected better from El Reg.
Nokia have cut the price of the Lumia 900 by $50. Which I'd guess is about 10%, as I'm sure it goes for about $500 *. This isn't really all that newsworthy. "3 Month Old Phone In 10% Price Cut" doesn't really look so exciting...
Admittedly Nokia being in the deepest of deep shit is news, and it looks like the tales of great Lumia 900 sales may be wishful thinking (at best). But that's no reason to make shit up.
*Surely none of us are stupid enough to believe that a phone that's 'free with a contract' is really free. Therefore a phone that's $50 with a massively expensive contract is also not $50.
Re: "the Lumia 900 will never see a Windows 8 upgrade"
Yup, Microsoft fairly recently made official what had long been rumored -- that just as Windows Mobile 6.5 wasn't upgradeable to Windows 7 Phone, none of the Windows 7 Phones will be upgradeable to Windows Phone 8. Sounds like a general policy.
Windows 7 Phone apps are supposed to run on all Windows 8 systems. Windows 8 Metro apps are also supposed to run on all Windows 8 systems, but not on Windows 7. Thus, the Windows 7 Phone platform is being pretty effectively obsoleted. Given the small number of Windows 7 systems versus even a fairly weak Windows 8 rollout, it's not reasonable to expect many developers will keep developing for Windows 7 Phone.
They also announced some things about Windows 8. Three major versions: Windows 8 (for x86), Windows RT (Windows 8 for ARM) and Windows 8 Phone (pretty much the same as Windows RT, but specifically for phones). All will come with both Win32 and the new WinRT APIs, but only Microsoft gets to use Win32 calls on ARM systems. ARM systems will also have a mandatory secure BIOS, which will only run signed binaries. Windows RT programs will only be sold though Microsoft's Zune store (or whatever they're calling it now), basically a work-alike to the Apple iTunes walled garden.
Fun stuff.
Discount? You can put lipstick on a pig, but it's still a pig.
Re: "the Lumia 900 will never see a Windows 8 upgrade"
Thank you.
Wait until Thursday...
Then we'll see. Nokia's shareholders must be crapping themseves. Thank God I sold my stock.
