Microsoft Drops Price on Nokia's 41-Megapixel Phone

TechRadar reports today the first major public-facing move that Microsoft has made with its newly acquired Nokia devices business: "The headline-making Nokia Lumia 1020 smartphone-cum-camera is now available for $100 less in the United States, potentially a sign that Microsoft is already ringing the changes at Nokia. The Microsoft Store stateside is now selling the 41-megapixel Windows Phone 8 handset for $199 (around £127, AU$216) on a two-year contract, compared with Nokia's lofty $299 (around £191, AU$325) launch price. The price is being matched by the AT&T network, but Microsoft is going one better (for a limited time) and chucking in the camera grip accessory for everyone who picks up the device. Early indications are that the heavily-hyped Lumia 1020 hasn't been flying off the shelves, so perhaps this price cut can offer Microsoft a boost in the early stages of its Nokia stewardship."

Price Drop? More like Rice Crop.

[Ignacio]

All the price drop in the world can't fix the fact that it's Windows Phone. They could offer a free Lamborghini with each phone and that still wouldn't fix it.

Dislike competition?

[bigtallmofo]

6 years ago Apple came in and re-invented what a smartphone was. As a result, RIM is all but dead and we now have Android and Windows Phone 8 that are high quality smartphone offerings. Your comment adds nothing to the discussion - what is its point? You want Windows Phone 8 to die so consumers have less choice?

Deceptive price

[SIGBUS]

Saying it's $100 with a two-year contract is misleading. What's the real US price? TFA indicates £599, which would be about $936.

Re:Dislike competition?

[Zero__Kelvin]

"As a result, RIM is all but dead and we now have Android and Windows Phone 8 that are high quality smartphone offerings."

Since when does a Windows 8 phone qualify as a quality offering? If it did, then it would be selling well, but it isn't [forbes.com]. Microsoft will never get people to buy their garbage en masse in the phone market, because they can't apply the only business model they have ever successfully implemented: Embrace, Extend, Extinguish". They can't FUD their way into the market. No chance to create vendor lock-in means zero chance of success.

I feel sorry for all Nokia employees

[burni2]

I feel really sorry for all Nokia employees, Balmer said we buy them, well what will happen in the future:

1.) they will lay off Nokia devellopers and other employees (@Nokia-Employees, sorry guys but look at Motorolla's mass lay offs)

2.) they will stop producing phones (HTC, Samsung, etc.. can install Windows Phonn(e/y) too)

3.) they will have a brand name with a nice ring, patents at hand to be a pain in googles ass (not that I like to see the we stopped being good guys with itchsing between the buttocks)

4.) Finland will have a fond memory of what was once the most successfull & best develloper/producer for cell phones in the world

Lesson Learned:
Do not let trojan horses wether enter your computer nor your company !
Btw. if you ask the horse if it is trojan and it answers no, burn it !

(The story, that Elop was a trojan horse and so one, was predicted by many others (even here on /.) when he joined Nokia)

Re:After 3 iPhones, I switched to Windows Phone 8

[DogDude]

You're smoking crack. Windows Phone isn't "bloated" at all. It's quite zippy, in fact. It's easiest the most attractive OS out there, no question. Those other ones are horrible to look at and use, by comparison. And, unless you're a 12 year old Japanese girl, there are plenty of apps. You have no idea what you're talking about, but thanks for your mis-informed opinion!

Re:No

[Anonymous Coward]

It's a juxtaposition of terrible writing, as befits Slashdot nowadays. But from my reading it's Microsoft Store lowering their price, so it's got nothing to do with Nokia (necessarily), just Microsoft alone. Of course, it's easy to see how this would be related to the expected sale.
But as for Nokia itself, the former and future Microsft Stephen Elop actually stepped aside as a CEO with the announcement of the planned sale, so you could easily argue that Nokia is now working more as independent company than they have in the last three years.
Of course, product prices falling from launch prices are so unexpected and unheard of, that there must be something newsworthy behind them.

Re:Your loss

[ruir]

Not to that particular one, but several. I even dislike my current android, but it is not the point. The point is me, and take note of this, I am not alone in this- I have spent at least a decade and half to find viable alternatives that I really enjoyed using to the rubbish MS passes as products, and I sure as hell am not going back to use any of their products. And lets not get started on the marketing failures and they strategy of not innovating but killing the competition. If people were so demanding with the quality of computers and software as they are with cars, Microsoft would have been out of business long, long time ago.

Re:Price Drop? More like Rice Crop.

[laffer1]

Maybe he's more of a BMW guy?

I can't speak to others views on windows phones, but I looked at android and windows phone prior to getting an iPhone 5 several months back. I was an existing iPhone user and haven't been impressed with the lack of innovation at apple. The sony and samsung android phones seemed rather good and I also looked at a nokia running windows. The build quality on the nokia was very good and was obviously better than most of the other devices. It felt heavy though. Then I started looking at the OS. It didn't seem terrible and I could figure out how to use it fairly easily. Then I started looking at apps. That's where they lost me. A switch to android would allow me (with some $$$) to get mostly back to where I was on iOS. I wouldn't have access to my iTunes collection anymore. With windows phone, I'd be giving up all sorts of apps.

That was a few months ago, but google has threatened to pull youtube from Microsoft several times. If even youtube is at risk, how am I supposed to trust it's a platform that's going to stick around for more than a year or two. Microsoft keeps starting over with windows phone and breaking backward compatibility.

Re:No

[recoiledsnake]

Why is dropping price such big news? It happens all the time for a phone and is routine. Multiple Android phones have received multiple price cuts. But it's only big news if it's a Windows Phone since Slashdot seems to have axe to grind. Recently the Nexus 4 got reduced to a firesale price of $199 unlocked.

Also another fallacy I see in these kind of posts is "the price dropped by 33%!". Or, "the price dropped by half!"! All while referring to the on contract price. While the "price" may have dropped from $100 to $50, the OEM still getting ~$450 compared to $500 earlier. That's a 10% drop, not 50%!

Re:80% Market Share vs 20% Market share

[ruir]

Don't bother, slashdot is heavily throlled by MS shills and it shows.

Re:Dislike competition?

[Stormwatch]

Competition is good, sure, that's a good reason to hate Elop: he killed Symbian while it still had some coal to burn, and he killed MeeGo before it had its chance -- and even though I haven't used it, by the reviews I've read, MeeGo was a zillion times better than Winblows Phoney. So, FUCK Microsuck, they're a goddamn cancer, I wish they would just die already!

Re:Dislike competition?

[bondsbw]

Microsoft is a small player in this market. And frankly, competition works best when you have companies that are large enough to fight the good fight. As for controlling our digital lives, Microsoft is getting there but their influence is still largely limited to business systems and traditional markets.

Apple clearly holds the lead in consumer device markets; I am grateful that Google and Microsoft are actively bringing new ideas and fresh devices to the table and keeping Apple from stagnating in the style of IE 6.