Microsoft Drops Price on Nokia's 41-Megapixel Phone

TechRadar reports today the first major public-facing move that Microsoft has made with its newly acquired Nokia devices business: "The headline-making Nokia Lumia 1020 smartphone-cum-camera is now available for $100 less in the United States, potentially a sign that Microsoft is already ringing the changes at Nokia. The Microsoft Store stateside is now selling the 41-megapixel Windows Phone 8 handset for $199 (around £127, AU$216) on a two-year contract, compared with Nokia's lofty $299 (around £191, AU$325) launch price. The price is being matched by the AT&T network, but Microsoft is going one better (for a limited time) and chucking in the camera grip accessory for everyone who picks up the device. Early indications are that the heavily-hyped Lumia 1020 hasn't been flying off the shelves, so perhaps this price cut can offer Microsoft a boost in the early stages of its Nokia stewardship."

Comments

No

[Anonymous Coward]

Microsoft doesn't own the Nokia devices division yet. How can people post stuff like this - it has to go through some regulatory reviews and will close in several months. Not today.

Re:No

[Anonymous Coward]

It's a juxtaposition of terrible writing, as befits Slashdot nowadays. But from my reading it's Microsoft Store lowering their price, so it's got nothing to do with Nokia (necessarily), just Microsoft alone. Of course, it's easy to see how this would be related to the expected sale.
But as for Nokia itself, the former and future Microsft Stephen Elop actually stepped aside as a CEO with the announcement of the planned sale, so you could easily argue that Nokia is now working more as independent company than they have in the last three years.
Of course, product prices falling from launch prices are so unexpected and unheard of, that there must be something newsworthy behind them.

Re:No

[recoiledsnake]

Why is dropping price such big news? It happens all the time for a phone and is routine. Multiple Android phones have received multiple price cuts. But it's only big news if it's a Windows Phone since Slashdot seems to have axe to grind. Recently the Nexus 4 got reduced to a firesale price of $199 unlocked.

Also another fallacy I see in these kind of posts is "the price dropped by 33%!". Or, "the price dropped by half!"! All while referring to the on contract price. While the "price" may have dropped from $100 to $50, the OEM still getting ~$450 compared to $500 earlier. That's a 10% drop, not 50%!

Re:No

[davydagger]

but CEO Stephen Elop, former microsoft employee has already been offered a position back at microsoft, the concept they are acting independantly at any time is absurd.

Nice

[nospam007]

"The headline-making Nokia Lumia 1020 smartphone-cum-camera ..."

The porn industry always loves it when a cum camera gets cheaper.

It's not the camera. It's Windows

[kurt555gs]

Here is a Nokia phone with the same camera. Only running Symbian Belle:

http://www.amazon.com/Nokia-808-PureView-Factory-Unlocked/dp/B003U8EN7A/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1378647969&sr=8-1&keywords=n808

Re:It's not the camera. It's Windows

[DuckDodgers]

Nokia 808 Pureview: Symbian OS, 41 Mpx camera, 512 MB of RAM, 1.3 GHz single core processor, 16GB storage, 640x360 4 inch display.

Nokia Lumia 1020: Windows Phone 8, 41 Mpx camera, 2GB of RAM, 1.5 GHz dual core processor, 32GB storage, 1280x768 4.5 inch display.

The price difference isn't Windows Phone 8, the price difference is everything else in the Lumia 1020. But it's GSM not CDMA, so it doesn't work on my network. Thus, I won't be buying one.

They could give it for free

[ruir]

They could give it for free for all I care. Or with a free copy of virtual Gates+Ballmer dancing on the screen. I wouldnt touch them.

Dislike competition?

[bigtallmofo]

6 years ago Apple came in and re-invented what a smartphone was. As a result, RIM is all but dead and we now have Android and Windows Phone 8 that are high quality smartphone offerings. Your comment adds nothing to the discussion - what is its point? You want Windows Phone 8 to die so consumers have less choice?

Re:Dislike competition?

[Zero__Kelvin]

"As a result, RIM is all but dead and we now have Android and Windows Phone 8 that are high quality smartphone offerings."

Since when does a Windows 8 phone qualify as a quality offering? If it did, then it would be selling well, but it isn't. Microsoft will never get people to buy their garbage en masse in the phone market, because they can't apply the only business model they have ever successfully implemented: Embrace, Extend, Extinguish". They can't FUD their way into the market. No chance to create vendor lock-in means zero chance of success.

Re:Dislike competition?

[gQuigs]

> You want Windows Phone 8 to die so consumers have less choice?

I do want more choice in the phone space, but I don't trust or want it to be from Microsoft - or for that matter propriatary. Why do you want Microsoft to have more control of our digital lives? They have more than enough. Competition works best with a bunch of small players in a market.

So yes, I really just want an actually "open" system to actually be given a chance to shine*. (I'm currently holding on to my Palm Pre Plus which still rocks, but is slowly dieing). I'm currently thinking about getting a Firefox OS device [2], but the specs are SOOO bad compared to my Palm. If I could get it without a dataplan w/ AT&T, I would have already purchased it.

I think the new gen of open source phones that are coming have a better shot (in that the company will actually try*!). Firefox OS, Ubuntu Mobile, Jolla, Tizen.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palm_Pre
[2] http://www.ebay.com/itm/271258990669
* Nokia gave open systems 1 release after saying it was a dead platform and then switched to Windows phone. HP gave up on their TouchPads after 2 months of sales.

Re:Dislike competition?

[Stormwatch]

Competition is good, sure, that's a good reason to hate Elop: he killed Symbian while it still had some coal to burn, and he killed MeeGo before it had its chance -- and even though I haven't used it, by the reviews I've read, MeeGo was a zillion times better than Winblows Phoney. So, FUCK Microsuck, they're a goddamn cancer, I wish they would just die already!

Re:Dislike competition?

[bondsbw]

Microsoft is a small player in this market. And frankly, competition works best when you have companies that are large enough to fight the good fight. As for controlling our digital lives, Microsoft is getting there but their influence is still largely limited to business systems and traditional markets.

Apple clearly holds the lead in consumer device markets; I am grateful that Google and Microsoft are actively bringing new ideas and fresh devices to the table and keeping Apple from stagnating in the style of IE 6.

Deceptive price

[SIGBUS]

Saying it's $100 with a two-year contract is misleading. What's the real US price? TFA indicates £599, which would be about $936.

After 3 iPhones, I switched to Windows Phone 8

[bigtallmofo]

The last 4 phones I've had were: iPhone 3G (AT&T), iPhone 4 (Verizon), iPhone 4s (Verizon), Nokia Lumia 928 (Verizon). The Windows Phone 8 phone is the best phone I have ever owned.

The primary way it is better is that the screen is so much bigger. This is easy to dismiss, but it makes a ton of UI hacks done for the iPhone needless. For example, the fact that the address bar isn't on the screen all the time is a hack to compensate for the small screen. Then that leads to a need for the hack where you click the top of the screen in the browser to rapidly scroll to the top. Sometimes that's a nice feature, but only if your screen is so small that they can't always display the address bar unless you've scrolled all the way to the top. Sometimes it's the most annoying thing in the world - like when you've scrolled past 7 pages of information reading in the browser and then accidentally click the rapid scroll-up button. There is no rapid scroll-down button to undo that.

How about moving an icon from one screen to another on the iPhone? What a pain. I would always have to use the very tip of my finger and then try to move the icon all the way to the left or the right and then most of them it would re-shuffle my icons in all kinds of unintended and undesirable ways.

The integration to Skydrive is much better than iCloud as well. My Lumia 928 has 32 GB of storage but with SkyDrive I get an additional 125 GB (of which 25 GB was free). I can seamlessly access pictures, video and music right from it as long as I have a signal.

The Nokia maps are the best maps application I ever used. Much better than either Google Maps or Apple Maps. Speaking of signal - the maps application have online and offline capabilities. So if I have no signal whatsoever there is a local copy of map data on my phone so I can still get directions.

I could go on all day. But for every way that matters to me, the Lumia 928 is superior to every iPhone I've ever owned. iPhones just haven't improved significantly in the last several years. Sure there's Siri - who I once dictated the text message "OK I'll take a look" which got translated to "OK I'll fuck". I didn't find much use for that and my Lumia 928 has much better voice recognition.

Re:After 3 iPhones, I switched to Windows Phone 8

[DogDude]

Hey, another anti-MS shill! I and several people in my family use Windows 8 phones, and we love them. This post was done on a Windows Phone, in fact (HTC 8X). My next phone will probably be a Windows Phone, too.

Re:After 3 iPhones, I switched to Windows Phone 8

[DogDude]

You're smoking crack. Windows Phone isn't "bloated" at all. It's quite zippy, in fact. It's easiest the most attractive OS out there, no question. Those other ones are horrible to look at and use, by comparison. And, unless you're a 12 year old Japanese girl, there are plenty of apps. You have no idea what you're talking about, but thanks for your mis-informed opinion!

Re:After 3 iPhones, I switched to Windows Phone 8

[DogDude]

This AC is lying. You certainly can easily forward SMS messages with Windows Phone.

Re:After 3 iPhones, I switched to Windows Phone 8

[DuckDodgers]

I don't want Windows Phone because it's from Microsoft, and Microsoft has a terrible history in the tech industry which has been discussed to death on Slashdot.

But the people flaming the operating system are letting hatred blind them. As a product, Windows Phone is excellent. I don't have any problems with it as a technical product, just like the iPhone is an outstanding technical product. I dislike the business practices of the companies behind each product - but if I told my non-Linux-geek friends that the iPhone or Windows Phone was junk, they'd laugh at me and stop taking anything I say seriously.

Re:After 3 iPhones, I switched to Windows Phone 8

[horza]

Microsoft Windows 8 has mimimum requirements of 4GB of flash, 1GB of RAM, and a dual-core processor. The latest Android requires 340MB of RAM and 0.5MB of flash. Windows Phone is bloated, buggy, and an awful UI that cannot be changed (unlike Android where you can put any launcher, or indeed custom rom, instead).

People are not buying Microsoft Windows phones. The reason is that both the hardware and the software is inferior.

Phillip.

Re:After 3 iPhones, I switched to Windows Phone 8

[InsGadget]

Uh, just tried this on my Lumia 920, you just long-press on any message you want. Three options: "Copy, Forward, Delete". As least find something else to lie about.

Re:After 3 iPhones, I switched to Windows Phone 8

[horza]

I'm not an idealogue, I just buy a lot of phones. Yes I buy Android on lower spec'd hardware like that, either for holiday where I don't want a $900 phone stolen or for presents. It's slow but incredibly cheap, very good value. I gave my old S2 to my girlfriend and the battery didn't last a day. I bought a cheap battery off eBay, put a custom rom on, and now it lasts for 3 days no problem. Android isn't a flash media centre on those specs, like my Note 2, but it's perfectly usable.

Not only does Microsoft produce poor software, slow, bloated and locked down, but the Microsoft tax directly affects the prices of the device. You are trying to argue why wouldn't you buy a WinPhone, but the argument is more why would you?

Phillip.
PS yes I accidentally wrote 0.5MB instead of 0.5GB. Apologies.

Re:Just a free camera grip accessory . . . ?

[stooo]

>> That would make the offer interesting . . .

Neither run linux, so no thanks.

I feel sorry for all Nokia employees

[burni2]

I feel really sorry for all Nokia employees, Balmer said we buy them, well what will happen in the future:

1.) they will lay off Nokia devellopers and other employees (@Nokia-Employees, sorry guys but look at Motorolla's mass lay offs)

2.) they will stop producing phones (HTC, Samsung, etc.. can install Windows Phonn(e/y) too)

3.) they will have a brand name with a nice ring, patents at hand to be a pain in googles ass (not that I like to see the we stopped being good guys with itchsing between the buttocks)

4.) Finland will have a fond memory of what was once the most successfull & best develloper/producer for cell phones in the world

Lesson Learned:
Do not let trojan horses wether enter your computer nor your company !
Btw. if you ask the horse if it is trojan and it answers no, burn it !

(The story, that Elop was a trojan horse and so one, was predicted by many others (even here on /.) when he joined Nokia)

Re:Price Drop? More like Rice Crop.

[DogDude]

What's wrong with it, exactly? Is it the wrong brand or something?

Re:Your loss

[ruir]

LOL; I know people who have it and they hate it. I also wouldnt touch it. It is just a evolution of Win CE by another name and I threw the one I had out of the Window of my car just because I loved it so much; and also the best joy they could give me some years ago was to steal my Nokia phone, so no go at all.

Re:Your loss

[ruir]

Not to that particular one, but several. I even dislike my current android, but it is not the point. The point is me, and take note of this, I am not alone in this- I have spent at least a decade and half to find viable alternatives that I really enjoyed using to the rubbish MS passes as products, and I sure as hell am not going back to use any of their products. And lets not get started on the marketing failures and they strategy of not innovating but killing the competition. If people were so demanding with the quality of computers and software as they are with cars, Microsoft would have been out of business long, long time ago.

Re:Price Drop? More like Rice Crop.

[laffer1]

Maybe he's more of a BMW guy?

I can't speak to others views on windows phones, but I looked at android and windows phone prior to getting an iPhone 5 several months back. I was an existing iPhone user and haven't been impressed with the lack of innovation at apple. The sony and samsung android phones seemed rather good and I also looked at a nokia running windows. The build quality on the nokia was very good and was obviously better than most of the other devices. It felt heavy though. Then I started looking at the OS. It didn't seem terrible and I could figure out how to use it fairly easily. Then I started looking at apps. That's where they lost me. A switch to android would allow me (with some $$$) to get mostly back to where I was on iOS. I wouldn't have access to my iTunes collection anymore. With windows phone, I'd be giving up all sorts of apps.

That was a few months ago, but google has threatened to pull youtube from Microsoft several times. If even youtube is at risk, how am I supposed to trust it's a platform that's going to stick around for more than a year or two. Microsoft keeps starting over with windows phone and breaking backward compatibility.

$2Billion Advance

[tuppe666]

Microsoft is not yet the owner of Nokia mobile phone operation. They cannot decide shit - yet.

http://venturebeat.com/2013/09/06/nokia-how-about-2-billion-now-microsoft-ok/ Microsoft have already given $2Billion advance. Its happening. Implying Nokia is making decisions without Microsoft's approval, is simply a strange thing to say especially as the man in charge...is going to be the same!

Re:Your loss

[UnknowingFool]

Personally I had a Windows Mobile phone for work. Hated it. So did all my coworkers. Several coworkers bought their own Blackberrys and iPhones to bring into the network rather than use Windows Mobile. I didn't because I didn't use it enough and could go weeks without turning it on. Others who had to all the time felt so strongly enough to buy their own. Now that's a level a fail when people turn down a free phone and buy their own.

Suface Crippled

[tuppe666]

The Surface Pro can run Linux: http://www.geek.com/microsoft/how-to-install-ubuntu-on-the-surface-pro-1539262/

For how long? Microsoft is moving to a future where only software from Microsoft can be installed on its not your devices. Its not even being subtle about it. I suspect my next GNU/Linux will a converted chromebook

Re:80% Market Share vs 20% Market share

[ruir]

Don't bother, slashdot is heavily throlled by MS shills and it shows.

Re:Price Drop? More like Rice Crop.

[iampiti]

Actually the Youtube scare was Microsoft's fault. Google wouldn't build a Youtube app for Windows Phone citing low marketshare so Microsoft built their own but it didn't show ads so it violated the terms of service. That's why Google forced them to remove it.

41 Megapixel Phone

[PPH]

Yes, but can it make calls?