Nokia Lumia 900 SA launch date announced

[Jan]

Nokia Lumia 900 launched in SA

Nokia launched its latest high-end smartphone with MTN.

[kingrob]

Thanks for the info Jan, um....um...but who really cares?

[McCrazieGoalz]

Take it from a Nokia fan... it is inappropriately priced. Especially because of the fact that the SIII is now widely available in SA.

It would have been the right price (perhaps) if we had LTE in SA. And even then, it cannot be priced in the same bracket as the SIII. I understand the SIII has LTE too.

I hear people are getting it in the US for US$100. I am not sure how it works there but this pricing surely looks out of touch with its pricing elsewhere.

Here is a suggestion: Let the 900 start at R269/mth (with the phone for free), the 800 at R199/mth, the 710 (R149/mth), 610 (R135/mth) and the Ashas can start from R109/mth and lower. That would be more appealing. Or the R369/mth should be TopUp. Otherwise, the people selling it are just not being serious.

And oh, the Batman addition can then be R279/mth.

[Mr.CookieMonster]

I doubt anyone would get hype over a new Nokia handset launching. When will Microsoft buy Nokia?

[eshwar]

As much as I am a Nokia fanboy I won't pay R 369 for that phone. Let's leave the S3 out for now. Take HTC One X @ R 349 pm.

The only things the nokia trumps the htc on is perhaps the actual device construction and local support. Now the htc first and foremost...display! That should be enough to win. And then battery life I believe. Even if we assume the OS part is equal, etc.

I am really not sure who does the economics for MTN and how bloody blind Nokia South Africa is. I'd go as far as saying Nokia South Africa does not understand the vision of Nokia. This is really not how you get market share.

Case in point, this phone was introduced at $50 on contract in USA where normal high end are introduced at $150-$200 simply to get market share. Somehow we are ass****s here that can't do with a discount?

[Method]

As much as I am a Nokia fanboy I won't pay R 369 for that phone. Let's leave the S3 out for now. Take HTC One X @ R 349 pm.

The only things the nokia trumps the htc on is perhaps the actual device construction and local support. Now the htc first and foremost...display! That should be enough to win. And then battery life I believe. Even if we assume the OS part is equal, etc.

I am really not sure who does the economics for MTN and how bloody blind Nokia South Africa is. I'd go as far as saying Nokia South Africa does not understand the vision of Nokia. This is really not how you get market share.

Case in point, this phone was introduced at $50 on contract in USA where normal high end are introduced at $150-$200 simply to get market share. Somehow we are ass****s here that can't do with a discount?

I'm leaning towards the service providers ripping us off.

This is why Vodacom doesn't want to sell it. Nokia said it's a cheap (hardware) phone and now Vodacom can't rip people off...

MTN just said "screwed it, we'll rip them off anyways"

[roguemat]

Can't believe SA's pricing compared to overseas.
All the local WP7's are overpriced and it gives a really bad impression.

[kingrob]

Can't believe SA's pricing compared to overseas.
All the local WP7's are overpriced and it gives a really bad impression.

I think the service providers wants to cash in on the perception that anything Nokia is still the best.

There's still a lot of people in South Africa (believe it or not!) who will only buy a Nokia, even if it's complete crap, like the N97.

[Rands]

Its our own fault actually. We KNOW that we getting shafted, but everyone lots of people still get the phone.

[Allin]

Since the phone launched at the event doesn't do it for anyone Jan could have (at least) told us more about the eats and the ladies' dresses!

[Nether]

I dont think any phone (inc S3) supports LTE in south africa.

AFAIK, LTE must be supported with a SoC radio.

The Lumia 900 does support LTE, but I think even with LTE stations in South Africa i'm pretty sure it still wont work because of the spectrum.

The Galaxy S3 has a Exynos 4212 Quad. (International Version, HSDPA, 21 Mbps; HSUPA, 5.76 Mbps only)
US version will have a Qualcomm S4 dual core processor (supports LTE),.

[scuzzy]

Take it from a Nokia fan... it is inappropriately priced. Especially because of the fact that the SIII is now widely available in SA.

It would have been the right price (perhaps) if we had LTE in SA. And even then, it cannot be priced in the same bracket as the SIII. I understand the SIII has LTE too.

I hear people are getting it in the US for US$100. I am not sure how it works there but this pricing surely looks out of touch with its pricing elsewhere.

Here is a suggestion: Let the 900 start at R269/mth (with the phone for free), the 800 at R199/mth, the 710 (R149/mth), 610 (R135/mth) and the Ashas can start from R109/mth and lower. That would be more appealing. Or the R369/mth should be TopUp. Otherwise, the people selling it are just not being serious.

And oh, the Batman addition can then be R279/mth.

Isn't the $100 price tag in the US merely the pay-in on a 24 month contract?

[McCrazieGoalz]

Isn't the $100 price tag in the US merely the pay-in on a 24 month contract?

I am not sure how it actually works. But, yes. I think it is a pay in. Nevertheless, the point I am making is that the Lumia's are being sold at one of the cheapest prices for phones in their bracket elsewhere.

As one member said, Nokia and distributors in SA appear not to understand what Nokia's strategy is - or what they (local distributors) should be doing to drive Nokia sales. Perhaps they still want to capitalize on the fact that the South African market's perception appear to lag behind those of developed nations, i.e Nokia still seems to have considerable clout.

By doing that I think they are taking a risk and undermining local people's awareness of whats happening in the mobile industry. They are also undemining people's perceptions of what quality is. Samsung SIII is way, way...way better than the Lumia 900.

The Lumia should not be priced in the same bracket as the SIII.

[Kgabogk]

Take it from a Nokia fan... it is inappropriately priced. Especially because of the fact that the SIII is now widely available in SA.

It would have been the right price (perhaps) if we had LTE in SA. And even then, it cannot be priced in the same bracket as the SIII. I understand the SIII has LTE too.

I hear people are getting it in the US for US$100. I am not sure how it works there but this pricing surely looks out of touch with its pricing elsewhere.

Here is a suggestion: Let the 900 start at R269/mth (with the phone for free), the 800 at R199/mth, the 710 (R149/mth), 610 (R135/mth) and the Ashas can start from R109/mth and lower. That would be more appealing. Or the R369/mth should be TopUp. Otherwise, the people selling it are just not being serious.

And oh, the Batman addition can then be R279/mth.

Considering the current exchange rate are we not paying cheaper?

[McCrazieGoalz]

Considering the current exchange rate are we not paying cheaper?

Without going into the details about how much people are paying for it elsewhere (which I think is still much less than R369/mth over 24 months) the point is, they are not making pricing decisions that are in line with Nokia's aspirations - to regain traction in the mobile market.

They should be applying the same principle that they applied in the US here - make the phone more accessible price wise. Don't make it go toe-to-toe on price with the likes of the SIII. Thats just silly.