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Nokia 900 Being Given Away Due To Software Glitch
joemite writes "On early Wednesday, Nokia said it had found a software bug in the new Lumia 900 smartphone, its big hope to take on Apple's iPhone, and was effectively giving the model away until it is fixed. It is offering anyone who has bought a Lumia 900 phone, or who buys one by April 21, a $100 US credit to their AT&T bill. The operator sells the phone for $99.99 with a two-year contract. Both Microsoft and Nokia still have big hopes for this phone. The bug apparently causes a random data connection drop. Nokia plans to push a patch the phone later in April."
My related links shows: "Google Earns $2 Per Handset; Apple, $575" and apparently, "Nokia, $-0.01"
"Science flies us to the moon. Religion flies us into buildings." - Victor Stenger
The operator sells the phone for $99.99 with a two-year contract.
Emphasis mine. Why don't you 'buy' that phone and then break your contract? I think you'll find out how 'free' those phones that come with two year contracts really are ...
My work here is dung.
... the newest Nokia ads claiming the "Smartphone Beta Test" is over with the Lumia 900. I hate to kick a dying dog but *point and laugh @ Nokia*
DO NOT TAUNT THE OCTOPUS
Didn't I see a Windows phone ad recently that claimed other smart phones were treating their customers as beta testers? Talk about tempting fate.
Nokia has TWO "900" phones -- the n900, and the Lumia 900. I was excited that Nokia was giving away n900s, the most open phone to date...
This is the big difference between the front runner in a market and the lagging competition. When Apple is confronted with claims of dropped calls via "the grip of death" they responded with things like "you're holding it wrong." Only after the problem persisted they provided everyone with free bumpers (still somehow without admitting there's an actual problem).
MS and Nokia, with their drastically lower and non-dominating marketshare, are not in a position to make such claims, and they immediately respond by comping the price of the phone and signaling exactly when the fix will be available.
No matter what your feelings toward WP7 are, you should be able to recognize its presence has a positive affect in overall market quality.
Have fun with your five 2-year cell phone contracts which will probably cost you over $7000 over their course.
The summary is rather inflamitory. There are no "free" cell phones, they only look free if you ignore the contract component.
While I"m an android fan..I give respect to Nokia for doing this.
What happened when Samsung's phones had/have issues basically randomly disabling the phone? nothing.
At least Nokia is saying "we're working hard on fixing this, in the meantime we'll give you what you paid for it back and let you keep the phone." Sure sure you're still in the contract, but you'd be in that contract with a different phone. Nokia is just paying you to stick with the Nokia while they work on fixing it.
I still don't want one.
Have you got your LWN subscription yet?
You're holding it wrong.
Wait, what?
Quo usque tandem abutere, Nimbus, patientia nostra?
If the lumia can be rooted, dual boot to debian, feature an usb to vga cable and a real keyboard, then it's a real smartphone. Else it's a toy, just like iphones and the average android.
Toy is not a derogatory term. Definition of toy: thing with limited functionality and/or safeguards to prevent unintended actions by the "untrusted by default" users.
Uh-huh. So let me make sure I understand your naming approach: if it doesn't have an incredibly specific feature that a rounding-error number of people would use, it's not a real smartphone? Your perspective is somewhat... off.
... effectively giving the model away until it is fixed.
According to Ars Technica, all new phones sold, even with the $100 credit, have the fix already installed.
Customers not wanting to wait can have their phones swapped for updated versions in AT&T stores.
Since when do we use the Toronto Sun as a reputable source for technical stuff?
If I used a sig over again, would anyone notice?