“The price of Nokia Oyj’s Lumia 900, the smartphone the company is counting on to revive U.S. sales, was cut in half at AT&T Inc. stores in a sign the device is struggling to lure users away from the iPhone and Android models,” Adam Ewing reports for Bloomberg.
“Nokia fell as much as 3.9 percent in Helsinki. The phone is now available for $49.99 with a two-year contract, according to AT&T’s website,” Ewing reports. “The largest U.S. phone company began offering the device in April.”
Ewing reports, “Chief Executive Officer Stephen Elop has placed Nokia’s bets on the Lumia series, which uses Microsoft Corp.’s Windows Phone operating system, to stem declines in revenue and market share. Lumia sales have been disappointing and the current versions risk becoming less attractive because they can’t be upgraded to run the Windows Phone 8 software due out later this year, said Michael Schroeder, a FIM Bank analyst in Helsinki… Nokia declined as much as 5.9 cents to 1.45 euros and traded at 1.48 euros at 1:04 p.m. Helsinki time. Falling revenue and mounting losses have left the company’s stock near its lowest level since 1996.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: It isn’t worth 49-cents. If the upfront price of a handset is a concern, you probably can’t afford a smartphone, but, obviously, the $99 iPhone 4 is a far more attractive deal than an EOL’ed device from a failing company that’s been decimated by Apple.