T-Mobile To Offer $50 Nokia Windows Phone in January (NewsFactor)

The great Nokia-Windows experiment is just about under way, with the first device made by the Finnish handset giant and powered by Microsoft's Phone 7 operating system headed to the U.S. market via T-Mobile.

As of Jan. 11, the Lumia 710 will sell for just $49.99, a bargain price that the three companies hope will lure new smartphone adopters, possibly giving a needed boost to Nokia, the global smartphone leader whose figures have been sagging, and Microsoft, which desperately needs to gain traction in the market. With former Microsoft exec Stephen Elop at the helm, Nokia in Februrary announced a plan to replace its foundering Symbian OS with Windows on most new phones.

The market has been heavily dominated by a torrent of devices powered by Google's Android operating system made by Samsung, LG, Motorola, HTC and others, as well as Apple's iPhone, via Verizon Wireless, AT&T and Sprint.

Chasing New Adopters

Meanwhile, a growing share of the estimated 150 million feature phone users in the United States are upgrading to smartphones. Nokia cited research by the NPD Group that U.S. smartphone sales reached 59 percent of mobile phone purchases in the third quarter 2011, an increase of 13 percent since third quarter of 2010.

"We're excited to team with Nokia in bringing its first Windows Phone to the U.S. with the elegantly designed Nokia Lumia 710," said Cole Brodman, chief marketing officer for T-Mobile USA, in a statement. "Windows Phone offers a compelling mobile OS choice for people who want a smartphone built around them, their family and friends. We expect it to play a more prominent role in our lineup and marketing efforts in 2012."

The Lumia's specs are not state-of-the art -- it sports a 1.4-gigahertz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, but it is not dual core -- but are impressive for a low-cost phone. The display is 3.7 inches, with 512 megabytes of RAM, 8 gigabytes of internal storage and a 5-megapixel, auto-focus camera with 720p video recording. The Lumia 710 includes one-click access to Netflix, ESPN T-Mobile TV with mobile HD, browsing via Microsoft's Internet Explorer Mobile and search via Bing, including voice activation and Local Scout. Nokia Drive provides voice-guided GPS.

Mobile analyst Carolina Milanesi of Gartner has doubts about Nokia's strategy.

Too Cheap?

"[It's] a great mass-market product, but I wonder if Nokia might be cornered as a cheap provider rather than one of the top brands," she said. "I cannot help but wonder what this announcement actually does for Nokia. I doubt it will get consumers to delay [their] purchase to after the holidays."

Another big question, Milanesi said, is what Nokia is waiting to unveil at next month's annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

"Elop said during the Q3 earnings and then at Nokia World that they would have [long-term evolution devices] for the U.S., so we know this is coming at some point. Would Nokia have been better off waiting for the big announcement and to re-enter the U.S. in style?"

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/software/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nf/20111214/tc_nf/81376

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