Nokia is selling Lumia 900 smartphones faster than it can sell them, Chris Weber, Nokias U.S. president, told PC Magazine at this weeks CTIA Wireless show in New Orleans. Despite a weak financial outlook, the Finnish phone maker is trying to spin good news about its Windows Phone-based devices.
“Demand has been outstripping supply for the first couple of weeks, and we’ve been working hard to rectify that,” said Weber, according to the report. “The demand for cyan [phones] is significantly outpacing supply. When you give people something different from a design perspectivecolors, etc. it really stands out, and consumers want that.”
The news follows on an April email to members of the press from a Nokia spokesperson, who likewise said that in various channels through the U.S., Nokia is receiving reports of stock-outs and consequently was building and shipping devices constantly to meet demand.
The success of the highest-end Lumia, and the latest to arrive, must feel like Christmas has come early in Finland. Nokias big decision to leave the Symbian platform and bet big on Microsofts Windows Phone platform, a partnership epitomized by the Lumia 900, has been criticized by Nokia shareholders, who say they feel swindled by Nokias continuing poor performance. On May 3, a disgruntled shareholder went so far as to file a class-action complaint against Nokia in a New York District Court.
Defendants told investors that Nokias conversion to a Windows platform would half its deteriorating position in the smartphone market, stated the complaint, according to Barrons. It did not.
The PC Magazine report alluded to another development that could help Nokias positionsupport from Verizon Wireless, the nations largest carrier. Verizon doesnt currently offer a Lumia phone, or any phone running the new Windows Phone platform, but Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam has expressed a need in the industry for a third major platformmostly, analysts say, to lessen carriers reliance on the Apple iPhone.
We’re not making any announcements, but we understand the importance of Verizon and we’re working hard to make that a reality,” Weber told PC Magazines Sascha Segan.
Nokia, meanwhile, continues to try to sweeten the pot and lure in consumers.
From CTIA this week, Nokia announced a number of exclusive apps heading for its Lumia handsetsincluding PGA Tour and ESPN apps, as well as Groupon and Tripdots apps. On May 11, the company announced the beginning of a country-by-country rollout to Lumia handsets of Nokia Reading, an app and a service that makes it easier to find books, and in a readers language of choice.
While e-books are becoming a common sight in countries like the U.S. and the UK, they are still in their infancyor basically unavailablein many parts of the world, Nokias Ian Delaney said in a blog post. This is where the strength of Nokia Reading lies: in local language e-reading content.
The initial launch countries are France, Germany, Italy, Russia, Spain and the UK.
Gartner analyst Carolina Milanesi, who has called the Lumia 900 a good first step for the Nokia-Microsoft partnership, tweeted about the new offering: Nokia continues to differentiate Lumia with services: first Navigation and Music and now Nokia Reading.