Nokia Cuts Lumia 800, Lumia 900 Prices Before New Models Arrive

Helsinki: Struggling phone maker Nokia has knocked 10-15 per cent off the prices of two of its top of the range smartphones, hoping to boost sales before newer models arrive in markets in November.

Nokia has cut the price of the Lumia 800 by around 15 per cent and the Lumia 900 by 10 per cent in Europe, according to device pricing data compiled by British research firm CCS Insight. Nokia declined to comment.

Earlier this month, Nokia launched Lumia 820 and 920, which many see as crucial for the Finnish company's survival. But the newest models will only go on sale in November, leaving the company's sales team struggling with older smartphone models for over a month.

Century Fox Reports: Nokia Lumia 920-First Impression

Nokia had already slashed the price of the Lumia 800 by around 15 per cent earlier this month and made smaller cuts for its other Lumia models.

Once the world's biggest mobile phone maker, Nokia fell behind rivals in smartphones and has racked up more than 3 billion euros in operating losses in the last 18 months.

In early 2011, it bet its future on Microsoft's Windows Phone software. Windows accounts for only around 3 percent of global smartphones, while Google's Android platform controls two-thirds of sales and Apple has around a quarter.

Competitive pricing is considered crucial for Nokia to lure back customers, even though pricing does not seem to be an issue for rival Apple. In Belgium, for example, more than 10,000 people have pre-registered for the latest iPhone even before a local price has been set.

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Edited By Cen Fox Post Team

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Nokia Lumia 920: First Impression

The Nokia Lumia 920 was announced in New York yesterday. Photo: Reuters

The new Nokia Lumia 920 mobile phone is the best the company has ever made – its 4.5” screen curves round a pleasingly solid body that contains a camera that’s so clever it can even work out when people walked in front of your shot, or add some moving elements to still photographs. Its maps now seamlessly add content from the web to show the street you’re walking down in glorious ‘augmented reality’. Wireless charging means that even your bedside table or desk will look neater thanks to Nokia.

There is, of course, a ‘but’ – the operating system, Windows Phone, is struggling to attract users and Microsoft’s overall market share is still falling. Nokia couldn’t get its act together to release prices or release dates for its latest, lovely handset. That basic blunder is not one that Apple will make when it announces the iPhone 5 next week, or that Samsung makes when it launches important new products.

The Windows Phone 8 software remains excellent – its start screen has been upgraded to use space more effectively, live tiles continue to offer constant updates. Nokia itself has worked hard with partners to build apps that provide real enhancements for the camera, and the package comes together to make sure consumers feel that they’re always using one coherent device rather than a phone that is constantly having new apps bolted uncomfortably onto it.

Offline maps, too, work so well that the satnav is even more redundant than it was before, because they’re built in properly to the phone. In the short time I had hands-on with the phone, all the camera features worked effectively, and the wireless charging is a neat addition, but of course stil relies on users being near to a charger, albeit one that is now wireless in its connection to the phone.

The biggest challenge Nokia faces in the UK is not that there aren’t many users who will soon be buying their first smartphone and could be tempted by a Windows Phone. In an objective world, it would probably be the most tempting on the market. The real problem is that to attain the critical mass Windows Phone needs, it must, led by Nokia, steal users from Android and Apple. While that ought to be perfectly possible, it’s hard to see anybody managing, even with pockets as deep as Microsofts. The Windows maker can’t afford to fail, but it will need many more devices at least as good as the 920 to reach its goal.

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Edited By Cen Fox Post Team

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