The launch last week of the Nokia Lumia 900 in the US was greeted with some better than expected sales, despite a software issue that Nokia quickly fixed. However, a new Reuters report claims that a number of wireless carriers in Europe are not happy with the sales of the Lumia line since the first, the Lumia 800, launched in November.
The article, which cites unnamed executives and representatives from Europe"s leading wireless carriers, claims that those operators that have sold the Lumia products are unhappy with their price points as well as a perceived lack of innovation in the phones. One was quoted as saying, "If they could lower the price we think they could sell more. It might be worth making it a bit of a loss leader to get it out of the door. It"s not rocket science."
Another telco representative, from a network that has sold both the Lumia 800 and 710 in its stores, states, "No one comes into the store and asks for a Windows phone", adding that "if the Lumia with the same hardware came with Android in it and not Windows, it would be much easier to sell."
One executive stated, "Ultimately, Nokia and Windows are challengers and they either need to come to market with a really disruptive, innovative product or a huge marketing budget to create client demand. So far they have done neither."
The report highlights the scale of the challenge that Nokia and Microsoft face together in their aim to become the "third ecosystem" - and without the mobile networks on their side, it"s not going to get any easier.