As Nokia seeks to rebound from a period of struggle in which it lost market share, the handset manufacturer announced price cuts for its Lumia 800 and 900 series. Nokia also announced prices in a variety of European countries for its Lumia 820 and 920 handsets, the company’s first smartphones to run Microsoft’s Windows Phone 8 operating system.
According to a report from mobile industry analysis specialist CCS Insight that was cited in The Wall Street Journal, Nokia has cut prices on its Lumia 800 and 900 handsets, also powered by Microsoft’s operating system, by around 10 percent and 15 percent. The article quoted CCS analyst Digantam Gurung as saying the move was not “a big surprise,” considering the impending launch of Nokia’s next generation of Lumia smartphones.
While pricing for the Lumia 820 and 920 smartphones has yet to be announced for potential U.S. customers, Nokia has unveiled pricing for a handful of countries across Europe, including Germany, where the Lumia 920 will hit store shelves for a suggested price of 649 euros ($835), while the Lumia 820 will carry a suggested price of 499 euros ($640), and in Italy, where the higher-end 920 handset will carry a price of 599 euros ($770). Nokia also announced the prices of the handset in Russia, where 24,990 rubles ($800) will get you a Lumia 920, while Russian customers looking to grab a Lumia 820 will have to shell out 19,990 rubles ($640).
The flagship Lumia 920 features a 4.5-inch curved-glass PureMotion HD+ Super Sensitive touch display that responds to the touch of fingernails and gloved hands and offers enhanced readability in bright sunlight. Other features include Long Term Evolution (LTE) or Evolved High-Speed Packet Access (HSPA+) technology, and near-field communication (NFC) technology, which allows the smartphone to connect to other devices for mobile payments or streaming media content.
The 820 model features a 4.3-inch ClearBlack OLED WVGA with Super Sensitive touch technology and the sunlight readability enhancements, an 8-megapixel camera on the back, a VGA camera up-front, and 8GB of mass memory plus the free 7GB of SkyDrive storage. Both handsets are powered by a 1.5GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 processor.
Nokia isn’t the only handset manufacturer getting ready to release high-powered smartphones running Windows Phone 8. HTC recently unveiled the 8X handset, which will go on sale in November. To complement the company’s first Windows Phone 8-supporting smartphone, HTC will also be offering the 8S, a smaller, cheaper version of the flagship 8X. Both models are expected to compete directly with the Lumia 920 and 820 handsets as the two tech giants battle to gain traction in an increasingly competitive—and crowded—smartphone market.
