AT&T reports that its enormous promotion of the Nokia/Microsoft Lumina is doing well, but there are serious questions in Europe where it has been out for awhile.
It is clear that the carriers in the US want a third major player - particularly to deal with Apple - but it certainly isn't clear that phones like the Lumia represent sufficient value to anyone who needs a mobile device that moves much beyond what a featurephone can offer.
I've spent some time with the new Lumina and at the $100 price point (note that the subsidized prices are minor compared to the two years of plan billings) the last generation iPhone 4 (which is the phone I currently have) is probably a much better choice for most users. The available apps and their integration are vastly superior. The same can be said for some of the current Android phones. And if you plan on using the phone as a camera even a little I wouldn't recommend the Nokia at all...
Microsoft and Nokia may be a bit too late to the party for this one... a respectable try, but they needed something dramatically better than the iPhone and couldn't pull it off. I was hoping for much more as I like the Micosoft UI (although the UX falls short).
But Microsoft knows they need to survive in the mobile market and they will keep pushing. Nokia has no other chocie but to push ... now if they can only master that ecosystem thing ... (ecosystem is such a poor term, but sadly it is used by everyone these days)
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