Nokia has cut the U.S. price of flagship smartphone in half, barely three months after its launch, in an effort to cut losses in market share to rivals such as Apple Inc and Samsung Electronics Co.
The Lumia 900 Windows phone which formerly sold for $99 (USD) has been reduced to USD 49.99 with a two-year agreement, Nokia spokesman, Keith Nowak said on Sunday. According to him, the price cut “is part of our ongoing lifecycle management, which is jointly done between Nokia and carrier customers.”
Nowak also pointed out that a price cut is not unusual at this time in a smartphone’s life cycle, noting that Samsung has cut the price for its Galaxy S II, launched before the Lumia 900. Nokia used to be the world’s dominant mobile phone provider, however, their reluctance to immediately embrace smartphone technology when it newly arrived is now costing them hugely. Also, their market share in less expensive mobile phones is also gradually waning.
The Nokia Lumia 900 features a 4.3-inch screen, 1.4-gigahertz processor and 8-megapixel camera, and uses largely untried software from Microsoft Corp. The sales have been slow, and Nokia took a further hit when Microsoft said current phones will be unable to run its new Windows 8 software, rendering them obsolete.
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