Nokia Lumia 900 price Cut to $50: But sales may remain sluggish

July 17, 2012 | Filed under: Business | Posted by:

Nokia Lumia 900 price has been cut almost by half to just $50. But experts claim that sales of this Nokia super phone may remain sluggish

Nokia has slashed in half the price of its flagship smartphone Lumia 900 within three months of its launch. The Lumia 900 was launched earlier in April this year with a price tag of $99 with a two-year agreement. The new price of the Windows-based smartphone now stands at $49.99.

It was reported in The Wall Street Journal that the price cut came in effect from this Sunday. The change is reflected in the websites of Nokia and AT&T.

A Nokia spokesperson told the Journal that the move was “a normal strategy that is put in place during the life cycle of most phones.” He pointed out Samsung’s Galaxy S II experienced a similar price drop in that timeframe.

He added that it “allows a broader consumer base to buy this flagship device at a more accessible price.”

Just after its launch Lumia 900 reported good sales figures and was listed as the bestselling smartphone on Amazon the week after its release. The smartphone also got positive reviews from all sides.

However, sales soon flagged and then last month Microsoft unveiled its next-generation mobile OS, Windows 8. With the OS announcement it was also made public that Lumia 900 phones would not be getting the upgrade. Sales of Lumias 900 plunged after that like rock.

Even without the flop show by Lumia 900, Nokia had been having trouble with the losses written clear this quarter. Only last month the Finnish company announced that it would be shutting down its factories in Finland, Germany and Canada, and lay off up to 10,000 workers before the end of 2013.

The second quarter earnings declared by Nokia this Thursday also painted a dark picture. Nokia has reported stinging financial losses in recent periods.

Nokia’s share prices have plummeted even after the initial success of Lumia 900. Stocks dropped 64% since the April 8 launch of the smartphone. It was followed by a 17-year low mark touched by Nokia’s stocks that ended down 2.5% at €1.51 ($1.85) in Helsinki trading Friday. This is a decline of more than 95% since its rise in the early information-technology boom in the early 2000s. Currently Nokia’s market value is estimated to be lower than the $8.5 billion Microsoft paid for Internet phone company Skype Ltd. last year. This is also half of Apple’s latest quarterly net profit.

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  • Asim

    Man, how the mighty have fallen. There was a time when everyone was proud to own a Nokia phone and they were considered the best in the business. This golden era even existed a few years ago and no one could have even imagined Nokia’s current plight at that time.