AT&T Inc., the second-largest U.S. wireless carrier, will sell Nokia Oyj’s flagship Lumia 920 at half the price of Apple Inc.’s iPhone 5 to encourage users to use Microsoft Corp.’s new Windows Phone software.
The Lumia 920 will cost $99.99 and the Lumia 820 will cost $49.99 each with a two-year contract and will be on sale starting Nov. 7, Dallas-based AT&T said Tuesday in a statement. AT&T sells Apple’s 16 GB iPhone for $199.99 with a similar contract length, according to the operator’s website.
The U.S. market is crucial in the smartphone business because most innovative devices are often introduced there first and handsets that are successful gain attention globally, Chris Weber, Nokia’s head of sales and marketing, said last month. Nokia unveiled the phones in September, touting the benefits of Microsoft’s new Windows operating system.
Customers “have lots of good reasons” to choose Windows Phone, said Jeff Bradley, senior vice president, devices and developer services, AT&T Mobility, in the statement.
The Lumia phones are the linchpin of a comeback plan for Nokia, which has struggled to compete with Apple’s iPhone and Google Inc.’s Android. Microsoft also is counting on Nokia devices to help win back market share in smartphone software.
Nokia, based in Espoo, Finland, has identified the U.S. as a key market in its global turnaround bid. AT&T began selling the Lumia 900 exclusively earlier this year. That phone uses older Microsoft software.
HTC Device
The Lumia 920 has a brightly colored plastic body and a spring mounted, 8.7-megapixel camera. It features software called City Lens that displays the names of restaurants and shops when users point their camera at them. Special maps software also shows customers nearby attractions. AT&T said it will also sell HTC Corp.’s Windows Phone 8X with 16 GB for $199.99 and the 8 GB model for $99.99, according to the statement.
Verizon Wireless will start selling the Lumia 822 as part of its “fall portfolio,” Nokia said on Oct. 29., without giving exact date or price details. The device is aimed at those moving up from a more basic handset or seeking to transfer from a BlackBerry, for example.
Nokia, which controlled more than half of global smartphone sales before the first iPhone and Android devices were introduced, jettisoned its homemade Symbian software last year in favor of Windows to stop users from defecting. Its market- share decline has accelerated since, with the company accounting for just 4 percent of the worldwide smartphone market in the third quarter, down from 14 percent a year earlier, according to research firm Strategy Analytics.
