Nokia has promised low-cost Windows Phone 7 smartphones “very quickly”, addressing concerns that the Microsoft OS would drive up prices of the Finnish company’s smartphone range. Nokia CEO Stephen Elop confirmed that “we have become convinced that we can do that very quickly” having revealed that one of Microsoft’s key messages throughout negotiations was that Windows Phone could readily hit “a very low price point.” Only thing is what is “Very low Cost”?
The initial response to Nokia’s decision to drop Symbian and adopt Microsoft Windows Phone has been mixed. The Finnish company’s stock dropped more than 20% and many Finnish employees unhappy with the decision took a voluntary day off when the deal was announced earlier this month.
Mobile World Congress 2011 this past week proved something of a flop for Windows Phone, with the new Android devices dominating the line-ups of most manufacturers. Nokia itself has said that the first smartphones running the platform aren’t expected until later in the year, and SlashGear is hearing that carriers are responding negatively to increasing pressure from Microsoft to promote devices.
One of the current issues is pricing, with Microsoft’s stringent minimum specifications and inflexibility on modifications leading to an expensive range of functionally very similar headsets. Broader support for chipsets other than Qualcomm’s will be one important step in that process, earlier this week, ST-Ericsson confirmed it was focusing strong on the Windows Phone platform.
So PPCGeeks, what do you think of lower costing smartphones by Nokia? What about Nokia in general? Is this move smart for both Microsoft and Nokia – that is to leverage on each other strengths? Let me know below in the comment section, who knows maybe a Microsoft Rep will stumble across this post and make wind of our feelings.
Source: SlashGear.com