UK’s Guardian Technology On-Line Predicts Poor Sales
Yesterday’s article by Juliette Garside offered little Christmas cheer to Finland’s struggling Nokia. Sales figures and assessments of Nokia’s Lumia 800 smartphone show only mediocre impact when evaluated against results for iPhone 4S.
Pacific Crest, a US Technology investment specialist revised downward estimated shipments of the Lumia 800 from a clean 2 million to only 500,000 pre-Christmas sales.
In Western Europe market research firm IDC forecast that the total pot for fourth quarter sales of Window phones at around 520,000; a pot shared by HTC and Samsung as well as Nokia. While that exceeds Q3 sales of 140,000 units of the new Windows phone, it doesn’t rank the Lumia in the major leagues.
Estimates Will Not Shake Apples Off the Tree
Apple’s iPhone 4S also launched in October and sold 4 million units within three days.
The IDC report compared the Lumia’s predicted performance with the launch of the Nokia N8, in October 2010. Hampered by an outmoded Symbian operating system the N8 still sold 780,000 units in the same six European nations now offering the Lumia. The predictions are hardly encouraging for Nokia.
Bill Gates Playing Santa To No Apparent Effect
Notwithstanding a reported $1billion subsidy of the Windows phone OS, from a grateful Microsoft, permitting Nokia’s biggest ever marketing blitz, the Lumia is creating very little buzz.
Even with Orange’s gift of an Xbox 360 with each Lumia sold, there are no reports of queues waiting for stores to open. Nor are other Networks biased against Windows OS; preferring to see competitors to Apple and Android dominance.
Is The TV Campaign Matched By Product Availability?
It’s curious that Nokia report that the Lumia had the best first week sales of any Nokia smartphone. Orange reported that some stores are sold out of the Lumia. So where is all the unsold stock hidden?
Some strategists suggest that Nokia, notwithstanding all the TV advertising hype, has purposely limited shipments hoping to create demand.
What product has reached the user has not been without its teething troubles, especially for a product that was developed and launched in less than eight months after Nokia abandoned Symbian and became engaged to Microsoft.
Is The Bride Waiting For Her Suitor To Get A New Suit?
Nokia have been consistent in making statements to the effect that the full effort to place the Lumia will not happen until Microsoft releases a new operating system; one in which Nokia claim to have had some input.
Hence, given that Microsoft now have a vested interest in the Nokia Lumia succeeding, we give some credence to the theory that 2012 will be the real launch for the Lumia. Be that the 800 or a Lumia by any other name.
At unlockworldwide.com we look forward to serving any of those who buy the Nokia Lumia 800, be they many or few. We feel the same way about Samsung Galaxy and the BlackBerry 9360.